


Thicker than Water and More

by SerpentPrideQueen



Series: Thicker than Water and More [1]
Category: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter - Laurell K. Hamilton, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angels, Child Abuse, Court, F/F, F/M, Family, Fourth Mark, Heaven, Honeymoon, Kid Fic, M/M, Marriage, Multi, Polyamory, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-30
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-01-10 13:56:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 58,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1160487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerpentPrideQueen/pseuds/SerpentPrideQueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anita has her life shaken by a couple of elderly strangers bearing much more than what they carried with them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Changes

**Author's Note:**

> ABVH/HP crossover. The timelines do not match, please just ignore the continuity issues and enjoy this mini-vacation from reality. 
> 
> Since Richard and his family almost always get to be Harry's unknown family. It's time that Anita get a shot of being family to the kid. 
> 
> This story is only in life thanks to my generous and brilliant beta reader SylvieCat.

 

Three days after my thirtieth birthday, I was house-sitting for my friend and fellow animator, Larry Kirkland, with Nathaniel and Micah. The April morning was cool and I so wanted to cuddle safe in-between my two sweeties until late afternoon instead of getting up for work. Honestly, as deeply tangled as I was under the blankets and in the limbs of their warm bodies, we would likely take at least that long to pull ourselves out of bed. Nathaniel, who was curling tighter against my body and sighing in contentment, reinforced this notion within me. I was growing to love that sound and the feel of him breathing lightly on me in pleasure.

“Good morning,” he purred into my ear.

I smiled as I snuggled in against him tighter. “Yes, it is.”

Normally, I was not one for endorsing the idea of playing hooky. However, the company and the feeling of being inside a house again rather than under the Circus for a change were making the temptation near impossible. When Micah rolled over to curl around both Nathaniel and me possessively, the idea more than tempted me. We had worked hard in the last few weeks. In fact, it had been months since we had woken up together instead of one of us leaving and another crawling into bed. Micah opened those chartreuse kitty-cat eyes to me and smiled so much like his feline beast. Warm, moist lips brushed against mine until we gave in into an intimate and relishing kiss that gave our beasts a chance to say their good mornings to one another too. Then Micah focused on our Nathaniel with a deep smile before claiming our love’s lips just as deep and possessive. Yes, we all needed a break from life, if only for the day.

Unfortunately, fate had other plans for us that morning.

Downstairs, the doorbell rang to break our silent reverie. Micah broke his and Nathaniel’s kiss to grumble with a voice thick from sleep. “Just when I was going to call in sick today.”

I laughed, since the same thought had crossed my mind many, many times since I finally gave in to the sun and woke up. “You are beginning to read me too well, my Nimir-Raj.”

“My job, my Nimir-Ra.”

Cheerful from our old morning ritual returning and ever our chipper morning person, Nathaniel called out. “We’ll be down in a minute.”

We slid into comfortable though presentable house clothes before Nathaniel beat me out of the door and down the stairs for the front door. I looked over at Micah and sighed. “How did we manage to fall in love with such a morning person?”

He chuckled at me. “Simple. We needed him to wake us up and make sure we are ready for the morning.”

Leaving the bedclothes for later straightening or use, Micah pulled me off the bed and walked with me down the stairs. As long as we took to pull out of bed, I expected the visitor had already left in spite of Nathaniel’s swiftness. I know that I would have walked away personally. No need to break the warm feelings of the morning by acting terse with my guys. But, surprisingly, Nathaniel had made it to the door in time.

Outside stood an elderly man and woman dressed in some sort of medieval clothing and wearing pointed hats — though the woman’s was more like a witch’s hat that was crooked at the tip. The woman wore a look of surprise, meaning they were not here to see Nathaniel. However, I knew I had never met either of them. Glancing at Micah, I saw no recognition in his face.

Nathaniel was still talking; making excuses for the amount of time I took getting ready and turned around with a somewhat relieved expression. “There she is!”

I wondered if the pair were in some way connected to the vampire council, but dismissed that thought. They did not feel connected to vampires, though they were not human either. No sort of lycanthropy I had ever met before and not zombies. Yet, there was some sort of feeling in me that screamed these two were not completely normal.

Rather than screaming at them for interrupting our beautiful morning, as I first wanted, I counted to ten and walked over to my younger sweetie and the door. As calmly as I could manage, I grumbled, “Hello, how can we help you?”

“Are you Anita Blake?” the woman asked me while she glanced suspiciously back and forth between Micah and Nathaniel.

“Yes, but I have to tell you right away that if you are looking for me as an animator …” I began, however, the gentleman interrupted me.

“No, no, my dear. Actually, we would not have remained had my associate not insisted we speak with you face-to-face.”

Said colleague glared. “After what happened the last time…”

“There is no reason to get into such just now,” chided the man.

Now I started to wonder if they were members of some new cult or selling something. This situation felt too weird for my tastes after dealing with the ultimate vampire boogeyman not long before. I knew I should have brought my gun downstairs with me. I needed my coffee before my brain would function. “Ring the bell and run?”

Then I saw what Nathaniel was staring at while we talked. In the woman’s arms was an adorable little green-eyed baby who looked far too thin for his height. Given how I missed this silent third person I was still way too tired. I really, really needed my coffee.

Nathaniel, who had learned to read me better than anyone, cut in before I could decide what to do with our unexpected guests.

“Maybe you want to come in, so we can talk in warmer air and drink some coffee?”

I so didn´t want these people inside with me, but the sooner I got coffee, the sooner I would be able to handle them properly.

The two adults agreed while Nathaniel opened the door wider and the trio came in. To my surprise, the baby immediately reached out for me. He wore a smile that so reminded me of Micah and Nathaniel – happy and eager to see me smile at the same time. That had to be my imagination.This kid would need an entire coalition to knock back the girls or guys (either way it was not my business) when he got older. For now, he could win a most-adorable-baby-contest without a sweat. Still this kid’s eyes also held an expression that seemed so sad and needy. He wanted something from me, but didn’t seem to think he would get whatever he wanted so bad. How could I read an unknown child so easily?

I picked the baby out of the woman’s arms, not knowing why, but I just had to touch him. The boy answered rather than crying at this assuming stranger instead clasped himself tight to me, so far as to clinch my hair in his hands. For some reason, the kid did not want to let go of me. Okay, this was new to me and I was not sure how to handle it. A whiff of him brought to my mind an image of my Dad. The kid smelt of home and life before I lost my Mom. I had missed the feeling and my body instinctively hugged that boy tight for a moment to show gratitude for giving my poor heart a break.

Smiles were openly shared all around to the point that I rolled my eyes to the lot of them. What I smelt was no one else’s business, though I would later tell Micah and Nathaniel. “He isn’t shy I see.”

“Actually, the boy was not ready to trust any other that we have seen thus far,” the elderly woman explained.

I looked down at the content child. I had no idea what to think about him or what outsiders should would think of him. I hadn’t been around babies since Josh was this age, and even then my step-mother, Judith, made sure I was not allowed near her precious and perfect little boy.

The baby boy couldn’t be two yet, but maybe close to it. I tried using my powers. He felt special, but not in the way I was used to. Even more than this, he felt as if he was a part of me.

We all sat in the living room while Nathaniel made coffee. Silently, we waited for him while the baby in my arms – or could the word toddler fit the kid now? – cooed and snuggled against me. Once we all had a cup, Nathaniel timidly asked if he could hold the child. That was fine with me because I loved Nathaniel and knew that he desperately wanted a baby. I tried talking him into getting a puppy, but our moving under the Circus left me out-voted on that. Beside the kid seemed to really like my sweetie. Moreover, this immediate connection with child had started to give me the creeps.

Taking a breath to try and calm myself down, I began, “Could we start with introductions first?”

“Oh yes, I am Professor Minerva McGonagall and this is our school´s Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore.”

“Um, what school,” I asked, slightly harsher than normal. More coffee needed.

Fortunately, Nathaniel had made a whole pot and brought it with the cups. I took up my cup off the table and smirked before giving my younger sweetie a look. He had remembered to pack my favorite baby penguin mug to come with us for the weekend. He smiled at me before returning his attentions to the little boy.

“Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.” The elderly man provided nothing else.

Micah came over and stood behind me. “Why have we never heard of this school and where is it? Obviously in Britain from your shared accents.”

“Yes, the school is in Scotland. As to why you have not heard of Hogwarts, our world is kept separate from your world by laws designed to protect our people from those who long ago would have hunted us to death,” McGonagall explained.

We all three looked at one another before I shook my head. “You should keep an eye out on our world closer. Magic is a commonplace item now. I am an animator, which takes magic and I know many with various levels of magic ability.”

“Our current Minister for Magic would choose to observe caution rather than risk our world.” Dumbledore said. “Though it might be wise to open an investigation into such in time.”

“Say when you get a new Minister?” I added. All I received in response was twinkling eyes. I wondered if we were being railroaded into something with pretty make believe. Looking up at Micah, he gave me a shake of his head. I smiled at how he read me so well. Without speaking, he knew I wanted to know if he smelt a lie and received his response the same. Neither of us could detect any untruth within the couple's words.

I nodded a few beats later. “Okay, given you are not directly lying, let’s keep going. I guess you know me. These are two of my boyfriends, Micah Callahan and holding the baby is Nathaniel Graison.”

“Two of? What do you mean by that?” McGonagall asked sternly as she looked.

“I am currently dating seven men, two ladies (Envy and Jade both still thought of me as only their Mistress, but I saw both women as so much more than that) _,_ have one who is an uncertainty, and hold several others on the side,” I snarled. “A mix of metaphysical situations brought us together and we now do the best we can or even love one another deeply depending on who you ask about.”

The woman turned to Dumbledore and complained, “Albus, there has to be another way!”

The Headmaster on the other hand had a twinkle in his eyes then he looked at the baby and Nathaniel. The expression the old man wore I had seen far too many times in Jean-Claude’s eyes. In strangers, I did not trust that look. Then the elderly gentleman came to himself again in a similar way to Jean-Claude when I caught my vamp. Dumbledore ignored his companion’s protest to speak to Nathaniel. “The young man you are holding is Harry Potter.”

The man was incorrect, as the boy was actually holding my sweetie. However, as the kid smiled up at me before he cooed and giggled from Nathaniel’s tickles, I wouldn’t split hairs. Instead, I thought hard. Potter was not a name I knew in St. Louis. So what reason had these two coming to me with this sweet little boy? Moreover, why did there have to be ‘another way’ since she disliked my introductions of my sweeties? We still had not come to the reason for their visit. “May I ask what brought you to our friend’s door if you are looking for me?”

Another thing occurred to me. “How could you have possibly known we were house sitting for the Kirklands this weekend?”

Dumbledore sighed. “Magic, Ms. Blake, is how we found you and your at hand boyfriends. As to the mission that brought Minerva and I in search of you, such is the difficult, not to mention sad, part of our journey. You see, Ms. Blake, we only learned about you – and what you mean to young Harry – two days ago. Harry’s mother was born Lily Evans before she married James Potter only three years ago.”

I had to interrupt, “I’m sorry, but I don’t know anyone by the family names Evans or Potter. How would I fit in this?”

Dumbledore nodded. “I had suspected such. Your father likely has kept that incident a secret known only to him and Mrs. Rose Evans.”

Now I was really losing my temper. “What would you know of my father?”

“We are wizards, Ms. Blake,” McGonagall explained, as if that would make everything clear, which it didn’t. However, I waited and she eventually continued. “Due to the abuse we learned Harry has suffered at the hands of Lily’s other biological sister …”

Here I blew up even with Micah rubbing my neck. Harry whimpered and I forced my girls to calm down. We all hated that any child was abused … but that I could be lied to could in some ways feel worse. Drawing my powers back in and Nathaniel soft rocking combined to calm Harry again. Then I forced myself to speak with a degree of calm in my voice. “Can we get to what I think is exactly what my mind sees you are insinuating?”

Tears welled up in the old man’s eyes. “Very like Lily. Of course, though you will not believe nor be quick to accept what we must tell you, Ms. Blake.”

“Try me,” I growled while Nathaniel pulled Harry closer to his chest. My sweetie rested his head on my shoulder as Harry grabbed my arm as if for dear life. The poor little guy didn’t want me to get mad again. Yes, the kid was abused recently and scared of any anger. Honestly, the feel of his weight against me combined with Nathaniel and Micah touching me calmed me just as much as Damien’s touch.

“We had to trace Lily Evans-Potter’s line for any blood family with whom we could leave Harry, as his last guardians threw the boy in a cupboard under their stairs with nothing at all.” McGonagall explained. 

Micah growled and his beast roared with a powerful rage that even scared me a little, not to mention poor Harry. “They did what?”

“How could anyone hurt this sweet kid?” Nathaniel asked. “Harry is too adorable and precious for that.”

I felt the ache in his voice. Nathaniel too had survived an abusive home. I knew without asking that he would not give the baby up unless I ordered him to do so and even then, it would likely destroy all we had between us. However, the expression of loneliness and powerlessness in those lavender eyes nearly shattered my heart. Harry already had my leopard wrapped around his baby fingers.

How could I explain that it was impossible for us to raise a baby with our lives? Especially given we were living with a vampire kiss that was a favorite target of all sorts of metaphysical crap. That was not a place to raise a baby. Jean-Claude himself agreed with me on that back when I had my near-miss baby scare.

Harry whimpered and McGonagall looked horrified as the power in the room raised once again with our anger and grief for a child none of us knew. “What is going on here?”

“Boys, we need to calm down for Harry,” I said firmly. While calming and recalling powers took a few minutes, we managed to get back to a normal level.

Nathaniel kissed the top of Harry’s head. “It’s okay Harry. We would never hurt you.”

“I repeat,” McGonagall growled at us. “What is going on here?”

“The anger we felt at the news caused the three of us to lose a measure of control. It doesn’t happen often and there is no danger to either of you, Professors.” Seeing from the older woman’s eyes that my answer was not satisfactory, I went on. “The two of you really have no idea about who and what I am, do you?”

“We only know of your link to Harry,” Dumbledore answered softly.

Honestly, I had no idea how to take that. Never in all the years I had openly been Jean-Claude’s human servant had I met anyone who did not recognize me. The feeling was not refreshing, but scary and deeply troubling it was. “I am not a human. Such I have not been in many years. I am a necromancer and animator.”

McGonagall looked as appalled as one could expect. Clearly neither of them knew me. And I had yet to come to the good part. There seemed a chance that I would not need to argue about the danger our lives would place Harry in. So, why did that anger me and hurt?

Letting go a breath Micah spoke next what we all knew would damn our keeping Harry. “I am a wereleopard and the Nimir-Raj or King of mine and Anita’s pards.”

“And I’m a wereleopard too, but just an ordinary one.” Nathaniel explained.

Too much information, but we couldn’t take the words back. McGonagall looked pale as death warmed over as she turned to her companion. “Albus, we cannot do this!”

“The only other option remaining is Mr. Blake, who has given us his answer soundly, if we do not want to return Harry to the Dursleys, Minerva. Which would you prefer?” Dumbledore explained gently. Then he turned back to us. “We are taking legal actions against Harry’s former caregivers, Mr. Callahan and Mr. Graison. However, as I have just stated, young Harry has only three family members alive and you, Ms. Blake, are the last chance before Harry returns to where we took him from.”

I could hear Micah taking deep breaths before he spoke with less of his beast shining through than I would have thought, given as close to the surface I felt my girl’s mate. “Harry doesn’t have any other relatives then?”

Dumbledore shook his head. “Among the living, there are only Petunia and Ms. Blake’s family remaining in total and it is only Lily’s side that we are able to focus on in any case. We originally thought Lily only had her elder sister, Petunia Dursley, and left Harry at their stoop the night after his parents were lost.”

“You mean Harry’s parents are dead?” I asked.

A nod and Dumbledore went on, “I had hoped the Dursleys would take care of Harry like a second son. Sadly, such was not the case.”

“When you say left him, do you mean outside? Did you at least ring the doorbell?” Nathaniel asked, glaring at the pair opposite us.

To my surprise, McGonagall glared at Dumbledore, “No, he did not. That is why I came with him this time – to be certain he didn’t simply leave Harry with a letter again.”

My eyes widened and I scrambled to calm my sweeties when Harry whimpered again. “Guys, the two of you calm down and think about not scaring Harry, please.”

Micah began to pace behind me while Nathaniel focused all his attentions onto Harry. God, what was I getting us into now? Since Harry had Nathaniel, I went to Micah and pulled him into my arms. I knew he was thinking about the problems in our lives and all the troubles we were forced into without warning. Even so, neither of us wanted the sweet little boy to go back into an abusive house.

For the world, I couldn’t imagine what my connection to the child’s mother was. And why would that be so damn important?

Once I had Micah calmer, I looked at Dumbledore, “Look, my father has never talked about a Rose Evans. How could I be related to this Lily person?”

“Using magic, we were able to trace Lily’s full lines. This has produced the surprising and previously unknown development that Lily was not by blood a member of the Evans family. In short, she and Petunia only shared the same mother,” Dumbledore explained. After a few beats, he went on. “Mrs. Evans had had an indiscretion against her husband while visiting the United States just before Lily was born.”

No, I did not like the implications so far. Dad couldn’t have done the sin I think they were dancing around. This just couldn’t be happening. I could feel the start of a headache building behind my eyes.

Even if my Dad had slept with another man’s wife, depending on time, my worst fears might not have happened. I triggered Micah as my anger grew. The baby sobbed softly at, I suspected, the energy our angers created. A few breaths later, Micah and I pulled the control over the four of us like a blanket while Nathaniel muttered to Harry. That was enough to calm all of us a bit more and settle my nerves even.

This was why I never drank. A drinker’s life was not the only thing hurt with alcohol-fueled indiscretions. I couldn’t say Lily’s mother had been drunk, but I had little doubt my dad hadn´t been. Please God, let it have happened before Mom and Dad were together. However, I thought I was beginning to see a disturbing pattern that could not be denied. “How accurate is this magical tracing? Is it like DNA testing?”

“Though I have no idea what DNA testing is, there are no doubts at all, Ms. Blake. Lily Evans was in blood, at least, Lily Blake. Harry’s mother was your younger half-sister.” McGonagall softly explained and my heart crushed.

With as quick as Dad married Judith, I doubted that Lily was conceived between her and my mother. Still, I prayed that the timing was right.

Nathaniel looked up, confusion on his face. “How can you not know what DNA testing is?”

I agreed with him. DNA had been around for so long, surely someone had discussed it in their school. Paternity suits happened all the time and were normally decided on the test results.

“The Wizarding World is strictly removed from the Muggle World, Mr. Graison.” McGonagall snapped. Oh yeah, with that attitude, she was a teacher without any doubt. “We do not use most technology as electricity and magic cannot share the same space.”

“So your magical tracing of bloodlines is the same as our DNA testing, proving where a person comes from by blood?” Micah asked.

Dumbledore nodded, “I suppose that is true. Because of the way in which Lily died and the protection that her death gave Harry, he must live with one of Lily’s blood family for at the least part of the year. After what we discovered along with the results of the test, we had hoped for either Mr Blake or his daughter to take up guardianship of the boy. To save Harry from what could likely be a further childhood of abuse in the least.”

My mind was whirling. I may have had a sister, but she was dead. My Dad may or may not have cheated on my Mom before she died. I may have an orphaned nephew who I had to take care of the rest of his life. I almost hoped this was a prank or a hidden camera show. Something inside told me that my hope was pointless.

“Look you cannot just show up with a baby and claim by magic that you know he is related to me,” I said, even though I only half believed my own words. “Without a DNA test, I don’t see myself believing this.”

Nathaniel gave me sad eyes. I knew he had felt so excited at the idea of a baby when I had my near miss and especially in the last few months. He and Micah would have twisted their lives up for a child then. Now I held no doubt that they would do the same. Add on the fact that my supposed nephew too had suffered from abuse, well there was no arguing with the pair. I wondered if the others would accept this? ‘Hey guys, we have a baby boy! No trying to bounce him either.’ Yeah, that talk would be interesting.

“Anita?” Nathaniel whimpered.

I sighed and looked at his lavender eyes I loved so much. “Nathaniel, I need a shred of proof. And besides, look at how our lives have gone up to now.”

He shut his eyes and hugged Harry tight. “I know, but he needs us. I wouldn’t care if he weren’t your family. I want to protect him.”

“Sweetie, I want to protect him too, that is why I said to look at our lives.”

Micah sighed and I knew he agreed with both of us. “What about your father?”

I thought of my seemingly not so wonderful father. He was in a better position and far safer than we would to take care of this angel. Looking at the elderly man, I think my question he at least suspected. “Did you contact my Dad?”

“Yes,” McGonagall said tersely. “He and that she-demon slammed the door in our faces the moment we mentioned Lily’s name. The man had the nerve to say he knew nothing about Lily, but I saw the shocked knowledge in his face. He looked as if he was one of my pupils caught in some offence and looking for any way out of trouble the moment he looked at Harry.”

Nathaniel glared and I knew the story was truly getting to him if he was becoming so deeply angry. “He didn’t even bother to ask if his daughter was okay?”

“No, he did not.” Dumbledore now had a worried look in his eyes. “Such leaves us with only you, Ms. Blake, and the Dursleys.”

Not only had my father ignored his child, but he didn’t even bother to learn what happened to her and why his grandson was at his door? The nagging thought of what created this situation haunted me. My father had a secret daughter he did not support or even speak of to anyone. I needed to know how far back this betrayal went.

There was the chance that this happened in the in-between months from my mother’s death to Dad marrying Judith. “Professors, when was Lily born?”

“Lily was born on the thirtieth of January 1960,” Dumbledore explained.

Micah clamped a hard hold on me as my power rose with my rage. I felt my face grow dark with my thoughts. How dare he? That year made me five turning six. So, when I was between four and five, my father – the man who seemingly worshiped the ground my mother walked on – cheated on her and me. Then he cheated me out of a little sister.

My last thought made my eyes ache with tears. Were I to believe these people, I would never meet a sister who might have accepted me as I am. Why did my life have to be so messed up?

Again, Harry’s whimpering pulled me back. I grabbed Micah even tighter and breathed him in repeatedly. Crying was for alone with men I loved, not for company. Besides Harry was crying enough for the both of us as it was. I forced my beasts to calm down for him and the child too had captured them. They backed down and returned to their mystical wood within me to calm themselves for Harry.

Finally, I looked over to see Nathaniel kissing the top of Harry’s head. He was seemingly convinced I would finally say no to all of this. I didn’t want to think about breaking anyone’s heart today. Damn we were supposed to be enjoying a hooky day, not dealing with backordered emotional shit.


	2. Turmoil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Unable to accept her family's secret, Anita calls her father. Calling on Richard reveals he too is not having the best day ever. All the turmoil leaves the fate of Anita's nephew in the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anita and crew are not mine, I checked my bank account. Still belong to Laurell K. Hamilton. I borrow them for others to entertain never gain.

 

I glared at the pair who brought all of this to us. However, I would not give any hint that I might accept their story as true yet. “What happened to Harry’s mother?”

Dumbledore shifted in his seat uncomfortably. “Lily and her husband, James, were murdered last Halloween night by a man we knew as Lord Voldemort. Little Harry survived to reflect the killing curse that claimed his parents back on Voldemort, but I fear …”

That was all I could handle. Rage swept over me to the point even the seemingly unaffected Dumbledore winced while Harry wailed in fear and pain. For the baby I could yank my powers back. Harry didn´t deserve my anger.

Nathaniel stood up and started to walk around as he bounced Harry to sooth the child, but I had scared that poor little boy. I needed to take control of the situation.

Suddenly I felt Richard in my head. Damn, I lost my shields. “ _Anita, what’s wrong._ ”

I finally managed to answer in my thoughts only. “ _I need you, Richard. I need help controlling my anger so I can think._ ”

He was in a meeting with his principal I felt. Boy, did I have lousy timing or what? “ _I would say or what. Carver is on the phone with district and trying to figure out how to set up a conference call on the new phones. We have a few minutes to mind talk that I hope can calm you. Besides, I don´t think I want to have this talk with Carver._ ”

“ _You think he knows._ ” I answered without asking. That was the only reason that Richard would dread a meeting with his boss.

Richard sighed mentally. “ _My worse fear is I more than think it, Anita. He smells scared and he was lying earlier about having to go over some issues a student in my class is having._ ”

Now I was worried, “ _On a scale of zero to one hundred, how certain are you that this is about your lycanthropy?_ ”

“ _In all honesty? 99.999 repeating nine.”_

Never had I heard Richard be so certain about anything at all. Looking up at Micah, I knew the fear and worry showed on my face. His kitty-cat eyes looked seriously at me. “Anita, tell me what’s wrong.”

“I lost my shielding to Richard and he asked what is going on.” Then I thought about how Richard would feel about me telling his situation to others without asking first.

I could feel him wanting to laugh as he covered his smirk with a short coughing fit. “ _You are actually placing me ahead of your Nimir-Raj?_ ”

“ _Richard, your troubles are not mine to tell._ ” In the background, I heard Principal Carver cuss about losing the call. But, when Richard offered to help, the other man looked taken slightly aback before saying he had to learn this himself and for Richard to just be patient, since he already had a substitute in Richard’s classroom. “ _I’m not sure how, but in my mind Carver just managed to nudge himself closer to the full hundred._ ”

Richard sat back and fought to hold back his glower. “ _Funny, I am already there. Tell your king, Anita. I have nothing to hide after this. And tell him I will have more time to work on the hotline soon._ ”

“ _I’m so sorry, Richard._ ”

“ _Me, too. Tell him for me, please._ ”

Taking a deep breath, I looked up at Micah and saw him bracing himself. “Richard is in his Principal´s office waiting for the wary man to connect a call to the district office on speakerphone and failing. Richard and I believe that somehow they know about him. He wants me to pass the news on to you and says he´ll soon have more time to work on the hotline.”

“He’s a good man at heart, Anita. We will fight this if you two are right. Or else why do we bother fighting for one another?” Micah promised.

This time Richard took a drink of his soda to cover his smirk. “ _Leopards fighting for wolves._ ”

“ _Richard, Micah is honest and respects you most of the time. He would never make a promise he had no intention of keeping._ ” I argued.

“ _Look, I don’t care who does it, just get someone to call and tell me what is happening so you don’t blow up again. I swear, you are a freaking pulsar in my head and I need to keep focused now._ ”

I winced. “ _Sorry._ ”

He sighed. “ _I know you didn’t mean it. Just could I get a call to break my nerves, too?_ ”

Nodding I looked up at Micah, “Since Nathaniel is calming Harry, could you call Richard so he will have something to occupy himself with and in case he blows up about our news?”

A few rings later and I could see in my mind how Richard excused himself to answer his emergency phone. Carver waved him to the other side of the room while focusing on the task he couldn’t seem to succeed at. Finally, Richard answered and I heard both sides of the conversation as if I were holding the phone or an extension to it. “Micah, what is going on?”

“Anita just found out she had what seems to be a secret half-sister named Lily who was murdered about five months ago … leaving a baby boy to survive after the monster was seemingly destroyed. Then Lily’s other sister abused the child by throwing Harry into a cupboard and ignoring him. Look, we need help keeping her calm. Can you come over to Kirkland’s house after your meeting?”

“Seems? What does that mean?”

Micah explained all that had happened, minus how we woke up. That was our business. That raked Richard’s heart raw. “ _I’m so sorry, Anita._ ”

“ _I don’t know what to believe._ ”

A button on Carver’s phone lit up and Richard sighed. Damn the meeting was ready to start. “ _Listen, I have to go. I’ll contact you about this as soon as I can. However, I know a way you can be sure without a DNA test, Anita._ ” To Micah, he said, “Listen, Micah, I have to go. I will be there as soon as I can. That is a promise. Talk to you later.”

Micah nodded and I saw his body relax as he whispered. “See you soon … and thank you.”

This comment about learning my link to Harry surprised me. “ _How?_ ”

“ _Wolves know their blood no matter how thin the link. Call your wolf and let her smell Harry. I have to go._ ”

I smiled. “ _Thank you, my Ulfric, and I hope we are both wrong in your case. I’ll leave my marks to you open so just think and I will be here._ ”

“ _My Lupa, I would never expect any less of you. I love you._ ” Then he shut his marks just enough to focus on the still nervous Carver. If the middle school’s principal had any real knowledge of lycanthropes, he would have known that fear was tempting to weaker weres because to all lycanthropes fear was food. I could feel that my thought amused Richard for some reason.

Sighing I looked over at a scared Nathaniel and smiled weakly. “Richard told me how I could prove one way or the other without a doubt if Harry is my blood. Let me hold him.”

Nathaniel came over and gave me a soulful look. “What are you going to do with him?”

“My wolf will sniff him and she will know if he is pack, if he is my blood family.”

This calmed Nathaniel, who settled the calmer Harry into my arms. I focused in and rubbed my she-wolf who sniffed the air. I asked her with my heart, **_who is this boy?_**

She sniffed the air and rolled on the metaphysical ground within me before howling in joy. I needed actual words or sure feelings. Then my mind felt our Richard and the pack at Lupanar _._ I was sitting next to our Ulfric and on my lap was Harry. He was happy, clapping, and petting anyone who came to him. Slowly I understood what my girl was saying. Harry was part of our pack. Blood of our blood without any doubt, the child of our paternal sister. Taking a deep breath, I thanked her and opened my eyes to wide green eyes looking at me in awe.

Nathaniel looked worried and eager at the same time. He wanted this to be our boy so badly I could nearly taste it rolling off him. I would not lie to those I love. “I need to talk to Dad. Nathaniel, you know we are right about this.”

God, my heart ached at how crushed he looked. Kissing first my loves and then my nephew, I turned to our guests. “If you will excuse me, this is not a conversation I want to make in front of everyone.”

“Understandable, Ms. Blake,” Dumbledore replied.

Settling Harry back into an already grieving Nathaniel’s arms, I then went to the kitchen. Here a few tears fell and I angrily brushed them away. I lost my little sister and now had to give up her baby. Damn, my life sucked.

Thinking about the time of day, I knew Dad would be at the office. Surprisingly, his phone rang four times before he finally picked it up. “Dr. Joshua Blake speaking.”

“Hi, Dad,” I said as light as I could. But my blood was boiling at how unfair the situation was. “How are things in Indiana?”

“Well, business is good. Do you remember Mr. Gregson out on Mull Hill Farm?”

Faintly the name rang a bell, “I think so.”

“His best horses sired a new foal. Bet it will be a good one.”

I nodded and swallowed. “Nice, give my congratulations to him.”

“Sure will,” Dad said. He sighed. “Josh has been keeping an eye on the media for anything about you. Said you were working on some big murder case in Las Vegas.”

Well the case was old news, so I could talk about it now. Vittorio was a serial killer who had managed to escape before I could have executed him in our territory. Later he had mailed me the head of Vegas’ executioner and left a note for me in his victim’s blood on the wall of a crime scene. I talked about it without going into too much gore or bringing up about the crap I dealt with when it came to Vegas’ weretiger clan and their Chang Bibiana. Most certainly I said nothing at all about Marmee Noir. Still what I did say made Dad sigh hard.

“Nita,” he said with the tone I knew too well.

“Look, this is who I am, Dad. I just wish you can accept me as I am.”

He barked a sarcastic laugh. “How can I when I rarely hear from you? You don’t even come home anymore.”

“That you can set solely on Judith, Dad.” The last time I visited for Christmas was just after I was grandfathered into the Marshals.

Judith was so appalled that I was working in yet another unlady-like profession she threw a hell of a tantrum. In fact, it was the worst yet. She said it would snow in hell before she would accept me back and I pointed out how she had to accept me in the first place for her to accept me back. When she turned victim of how brutal a stepdaughter I was, I dragged her out of the kitchen and pulled her to the stairs that had a family picture for every year I had lived with them. Those I was in stopped at the end of the wall that hid those going up from public view. That always hurt.

I sat left in school while Adriana and Josh were pulled out for a ‘family day’ as she called it. Hell, she called them out of school right in front of me the last few years to make sure I knew what day it was. She slapped me and called me ungrateful for the mothering she tried to give me. I told Judith that she would never be my mother because real mothers, including step and adopted, accepted their kids from the start. Then I pointed out she might want to do damage control with her guests who not only heard the entire fight, but witnessed the slap and saw the truth in the portraits.

Luckily, I hadn’t taken my bags out of the car before then.

“Judith tried hard, Nita.”

“Ha!” My voice broke. “Tried hard my ass. That was not the only fight or disrespect she has given me. I looked like Mom instead of you, making me unworthy. Remember when I was eleven and she wanted to get my hair colored to match the family? How is that trying or even remotely accepting?”

I heard Micah’s phone ring and him answer it in one. So, too, had Dad. “Was that your phone?”

“No, that was my boyfriend’s.” I answered with complete truth. See, I could be utterly honest, too bad not everyone believed me every time I spoke no lies.

Dad’s voice brightened tremendously. “That’s wonderful news sweetie! When do we get to meet him?”

Again, it was time for a dose of truth, “Which one?”

“What do you mean?”

“Which of my boyfriends?” Now was not the time to bring up my lady lovers. Just their sex was enough to damn both Jade and Envy in their eyes.

Again, Dad’s voice sounded with disapproval. “Anita Katerine Blake.”

“Just being honest.”

“I raised you better than to … to … give yourself so freely.” Well, at least Judith’s colorful comments hadn’t made it into his language.

“I give myself to those I love or trust. Better than you.” Finally, I could get the conversation where I wanted to go.

The surprise and wariness were in his voice. “What do you mean?”

“Remember your little affair in late 1959?”

I could hear Dad taking several heavy breaths. Then he growled over the phone. “I don’t know where you got that lie from, but you will forget that concept right now, young lady. I loved your mother very much.”

Snorting, I growled right back. “Yeah, lov- _ed_ … as in past tense. Never mind, we aren’t talking about you and Mom right now. We are instead talking about Lily, or did you not get her name from the woman you slept with?”

“Anita, I was drunk from a bachelor party and woke up in the same bed as the woman. No one can prove that she and I had s-intercourse. So, drop this now.”

I glared at the wall in front of me. “You meant sex, Dad. Don’t worry, I’m a big girl now and know all the dirty words. Now, you do only know about Lily because you met her son recently – your grandson?”

Dad knew me too well and had his lies set up. “Anita, those old farts are lying.”

“Do something original and tell the truth, Dad. Because to prove you wrong and them right, I will get DNA testing done if needed,” I warned.

“Anita Katerine Blake, I expect better of you. I loved your mother.”

“So you have said before. Yet, look who you chose not even six months after we laid her to rest! Look how she treated, what was it you called me after the funeral? Yes, all you had left of a perfect angel. Look how you allowed me to be treated! Now do the right thing and admit the truth! I can check Harry’s blood to mine and your connections to us will scream the truth or you can open your mouth. It’s your call. How about you do the right thing for Lily for a change by saying the truth?”

“Fine, I got too drunk at a bachelor party with some friends and woke up next to a stranger. I had no idea I knocked her up!”

“Then why were you so scared when you almost met your grandson?”

“Look, she claimed her kid might be mine but didn’t want her other kid or husband knowing.”

I shook my head. “You are lying in circles, Dad. First, you claim you did not know my sister and now you claim Rose Evans contacted you about Lily? Am I supposed to believe you?”

He growled, “Show proper respect, Anita. I do not believe that girl was mine. She is not your sister even if by some twist she biologically is.”

“Like Adriana is and is not my sister. You make me treat her as such without so much as introduction before you had us acting as flower girls while you married a stranger who looked just like you. Thanks for putting me in my place and showing where Mom and I really rank, Dad. Look, Lily was my sister and Harry is my nephew.”

“Only to you,” Dad said.

I wanted to fly there and beat the man senseless. However satisfying it would feel to me, getting violent would not make anything better for Harry. “Dad, grow up and do for Harry what you should have done for Lily. Take care of him. His other family was horrible and I am in and out of danger so much …”

“He is nothing to me,” Dad snapped at me. “And it wouldn’t kill you to settle down to be a good wife and mother to your own children as respectable young women do.”

My baby sister was dead and neither of us knew each other. I had no idea what she looked like or anything about her as a person. All because of this man. Hot tears spilled down my face and a lump filled my throat. Thank God, I was nearly alone.

In the living room, I could hear Harry had started to cry. My heart twisted and I wanted to go to him. I had yet another man who needed me.

Dad sighed hard. “Look if you know what is good for you, you will forget the brat ever showed up, settle down, and pop out a kid already. I am sick of your mother …”

That was too much. “Look, that thing you married will _never_ be my mother. I am settled down, just not in your straight-laced traditional mind set meaning. I love and am loved by better men and women, Dad, than you ever could be. Yeah, I am part of a family of fourteen that is about to grow into fifteen. After this, Harry is my son.”

I heard Nathaniel yelp in joy. Only then did I realize that my voice had grown so loud and felt the blush heat my cheeks. Dad snapped. “Your lover with the cell phone?”

Sighing, I smiled at how happy I had made my Nathaniel. “No, that is Nathaniel. One of my other lovers, though if it weren’t for the pesky laws the lot of them would be my husbands and I would have two wives.”

“Judith was right, you have become a whore. I should have pushed you into the orders.” He growled. Dad’s answer to everything, just like his mother’s – the Church.

I smirked. “Given the Pope excommunicated animators and has damned all vampires as suicides …”

“Vampires? I thought you kill those monsters!” Dad snapped.

At this I chuckled, “I do still live up to their pet name for me of Executioner. However, I am the human servant for the Master of the City of St. Louis and love three other vampires on top of that.”

“God help me.” Dad wept. “Not just a whore but coffin-bait?”

His words broke my heart. My father saying that about me? I expected such disrespect from Judith’s mouth, but never him. “You don’t tell the heart who to love, Dad. Isn’t that what you told me to explain why you married a woman who was the complete opposite of my mother?”

Had I been standing in front of him, I was sure from Dad’s next tone of voice that he would have slapped me in the least. “Never use my words against me again. You had better get right with God, His Son, and the Church, young lady.”

“Given holy items still glow when I am being mind-fucked by vampires, my prayers still drive off demons, and I can still hold a cross in my hand when not attacked till it melts into my skin thanks to the ultimate vampire boogeyman, I think it is safe to say that God and His Son have no problems with me. Only his Church and its Pope have the malfunction.”

He snorted. “Get over yourself, child!”

Rage flooded me and I growled into the mouthpiece. “I stopped being a child a long time ago. Too bad you never could claim the same.”

With that final blow, I slammed the phone down and returned to the living room to a much happier Nathaniel holding our little boy. The last piece of my sister, all I had of her, no thanks to our idiotic Dad. A sad smile played on my face.

In a way, I guess Harry was born to us today. Shaking my head at how sappy, if not downright sentimental, I sounded to myself I sighed. If killers had a section in the Hallmark Greetings Company, I should go write for them.

Poor Harry was outright crying and I hated the sound. Even worse, I could smell his fear. Never again for my little boy. I took him from Nathaniel and smiled at how the boy calmed down and sniffled. All he wanted was for me to hold him? I shook my head again and sighed. “Don’t worry, Harry. No need for any blood tests. I can smell you are connected to me.”

“You said that before. What do you mean by that, Ms. Blake?” McGonagall demanded sternly.

Damn, now they would likely take my nephew away from me anyway. Here I was falling for the poor kid and would likely lose him due to circumstances I had no control over. My baby nephew clung to me as if I were the only port in the storm fate had made of his young life. I held him tighter to me as Nathaniel stood between them, Harry, and me. “Anita is like us, only different.”

“What do you mean by that, Mr. Graison?” McGonagall demanded while Dumbledore sat there with a calculating expression on his face.

Micah answered instead. “Anita is what we call a Panwere, meaning she carries multiple strains of lycanthropy. The difference is she never turns furry with the full moon.”

Micah came over to kiss my head as his hand rubbed Harry’s. “Richard is on his way.”

“Was it what we feared?” I asked. Micah solemnly nodded. Damn, my Richard was fired.

Focusing on my marks to him, I could feel Richard’s anger and degradation at having to pack his things while his students had study hall. All of them were asking what was wrong, and a few asked him to stay. This last didn’t surprise me. Richard was a dedicated teacher and did not deserve this shit.

“ _Thanks for the compliment, but I can’t deal with all the pulls on my attention right now._ ”

I sighed, “ _You were wronged and we will find a way to make this right. Do I know the cop on the door?_ ”

Richard smirked internally for me. “ _You expected?_ ”

“ _With the asses they are making of themselves? Nothing less than one officer with gun in hand. Who is it?_ ”

Sighing as he answered one of his favorite students about his condition, speaking to his class for the first time about the truth up to the point of his place in the pack. I had never felt so proud of him as I did in that moment. Then Richard surprised me by admitting he was Jean-Claude’s animal to call and what the title meant. I whispered in our minds, “ _You can talk about me too, even about my lycanthropy. Though most likely a lot of them already know._ ”

“ _Thanks._ ” And he did. To my surprise, a few didn’t know much about me outside of Richard being in love with me now and then. ‘Such is the price of fame,’ Jeremy Brett said as Sherlock Holmes.

As he packed his things, Richard gave a final lesson to his second period class about lycanthropy and allowed them to ask any questions at all. The feeling of freedom from talking about the truth filled my Ulfric with peace I had wanted to give him but never could. “ _No more pretending or searching for what I know I will never find, Anita. Will you be my only Lupa?_ ”

I smiled and swallowed as I agreed more with my heart than my thoughts, though I did answer him. “ _Yes, I will, Richard._ ”

“Albus!” McGonagall’s worried whispering brought me back into the moment. Richard growled. “ _Don’t let them take our boy._ ”

“ _Never._ ”

I spoke up this time. No one would judge me without knowing all the facts. “Before you go making protests about me or mine, you need to be familiar with a few details. I am the human servant of our local Master Vampire of the City, I am an animator, I am a Federal Marshal, and I am a legal vampire executioner. Beyond all of that: I am Nimir-Ra of the leopards – meaning their Queen, I am once again officially both Lupa and Bolverk of the wolves, I am a living Master vampire, I am the preternatural expert for our local and other police, as well as a Chairperson for the Coalition for Better Understanding Between Human and Lycanthrope Communities. Professors, my family and I face down the big, bad, and ugly with regularity. Given you are scrambling to find blood kin through my sister to Harry, you don’t think he is safe or that monster who killed my baby sister is really dead. With as many undead, lycanthropes, and human ties I have, not to mention the number of kills I have to my name, do you think anyone could harm my nephew in my presence, much less in the presence of those who already and will come to love him?”

Dumbledore raised a hand. “I think that with you to guard the boy, little could harm him.”

Again, McGonagall argued with only a word. “Albus!”

“Minerva, I do not see these people bringing harm to the boy and outside of the country, there is even less chance of harm coming to the child. Moreover, Harry will have a true family to bond with, which was our original goal for today. Was it not?”

“You know the Ministry’s position on werewolves! What happens when they find out there are other lycanthrope animals? The Minister will not let her keep the boy. He’ll take poor Harry and make the child a poster boy for his insane policies!”

The growling in my throat I couldn’t help. “I don’t care what your idiot Minister thinks. That is in England, not here. And if that screwy Minister jerk takes Harry from me, all I need do is tell Jean-Claude. He would contact the Master of the City of London … well, I think you can guess the political upheaval that could make. Not to mention all the press your world would receive. Goodbye, secrecy.”

“Outside of Wizards who fawn on his every word, or else pay him well, Cornelius Fudge thinks of no one else. Those who are not Wizards of Wizarding blood are of no worth,” McGonagall explained.

I smiled darkly. “He will learn that the preternatural community doesn’t take kindly to such arrogance, especially within this territory.”

Dumbledore’s eyes twinkled brightly. “Learn, I very much doubt; fear, on the other hand …”

“That we can do, too,” I pointed out.

Nathaniel was extremely excited about Harry, just as he had felt with our once almost baby. “Harry can have my old room. We will need a crib, oh, and we have to baby proof the place too. Harry will need a car seat and a high chair.”

Micah smirked as he rubbed our lover’s neck before kissing Nathaniel to end the rattling list of needs our son had. It shocked McGonagall, but Dumbledore wore a confusing look of satisfaction, hope, and a little loss. Was that about Harry or was the man in love with another he couldn’t have? I shook the thought off as Micah purred. “Don’t worry. We will get everything our boy needs.”

Looking at Harry laying still in my arms, I smiled. He was so quiet that I only then noticed the boy had dozed off in my arms. Maybe this mom stuff would not be that hard. At least I wouldn’t be on my own. Still I would have loved to have met and gotten to know my little sister before she died.

“I think that our work is done here, Minerva.” Dumbledore sighed. He smiled as he gave Micah a thick letter and a book I thought to be for pictures. “This should explain our world, as I have no doubts Harry will be a Wizard. We hope you will allow him to come to school in Scotland when he is eleven.”

Smiling on my little man, I decided that the future could bide its time. “It depends on a number of factors. We would have to contact and negotiate with all the Vampire Masters of the City on the route. But that is then, not now.”

“True, such thoughts and communications may wait, I think, for the time being.” Dumbledore nodded. “I wish all of you the best. Good day.”

McGonagall looked at my new nephew and gave such a sad expression. I had to ask. “Did you know my sister?”

Tears flooded the older woman’s eyes. “Yes, I was her Head of House as well as one of her teachers. Lily was a force of nature when pushed. However, when needed one could always count on her to move the world to help. She did not even allow social biases to determine whom she would associate or befriend. We all miss your sister very much.”

I couldn’t swallow at that moment, from what I could understand Lily and I might have been close if we had a chance. Nathaniel smiled softly. “She sounds identical to you, Anita.”

McGonagall looked softly at me for a moment before she gave a weak smile and nod. I guess the similarities to my baby sister were enough for her.

Micah thought of practicalities, thank God, or else none of us would. “What if we need to contact you?”

“Ah, I think there is a local Wizard Postal service here, however, a family owl might be better. Give me a few days and I will send one on to you.” Then the elderly man stopped. “There is one other detail I should mention, the letter I would have left instead, it carries protection wards for you and Harry. These will last until his seventeenth birthday as will the protection Lily’s sacrifice gives him. It would be best to open that in the place you call home.”

“Sacrifice?” I asked. Funny, how only now I was able to comprehend the concept.

“Yes, Lily and James were in hiding with Harry to protect the child from Voldemort. We found James downstairs, while Lily was with Harry in the boy’s room.” Now tears grew in his eyes. “Both were clearly in defensive positions. So one could assume that they knew the attack was happening and placed Harry above themselves.”

I couldn’t help myself now. Softly as my hurting body could manage, I rocked as I fought against my tears while Micah and Nathaniel curled around me. My sister knew she would likely die and accepted that fate for our little boy. Tears poured out at the thought. My heart broke.

Dumbledore gently smiled as he touched the book in Micah’s hand. “These are our sort of pictures, which move. We labeled the people in the pictures as well as where, when, along with any other information we knew.”

I looked at that book, shaken at the idea of seeing pictures moving. No, honestly, I could not wrap my mind around the idea of seeing the woman I would never meet on this side. Yup, life was not playing fair this morning.

“ _Not for any of us._ ”

I forgot Richard was not having that great of a morning either and that he had not answered my earlier question. “ _Who is the officer?_ ”

“ _Jacobson._ ”

“ _He’s a good man if you give him no reason to be hostile. Bet Carver never thought of that._ ”

“ _Anita, I’m in the car and on my way. You’re at Larry’s house?_ ”

I agreed and told him the fastest route from the school just in time for the turn off. After that he played our mix tape for me to help me calm down until he could get there.


	3. Keep Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Playing keep away using Harry as the target, Anita learns why she is not cut out for suburbia. Richard is fighting himself and who knows who will win in that fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anita and her crew are all owned by Laurell K. Hamilton, I just borrow them for some entertainment until the next book is out. Forgot to mention Harry Potter and his crews are owned by J. K. Rowling and other parties. Now I am covered, do not sue.

 

Not long after Micah had seen the Professors off and locked the front door, we heard sounds outside that, to my ears, were like two distinct gunshots going off in the air. We went into reaction mode. I pushed Harry in Nathaniel’s arms before twisting the pair towards the stairs. Micah was waiting near the door to back me up, which was hard since he usually didn’t carry. But I wouldn’t complain. Harry and Nathaniel needed a second line of defense if I failed.

However, today Micah was wiser than I was. The man had grabbed my Browning on the way downstairs while I had yawningly forgotten my piece. Granted, I just wasn´t a morning girl. I rarely functioned well at that time, but this was ridiculous. I never left my gun behind like this when I didn´t know who was knocking before. Thank God that I had Micah to watch me.

With my gun drawn but pointed to the floor, I looked out of all the windows. The neighbors were already outside investigating the noises. Shit, it was too public to go out with my gun in plain view. Instead, the scene forced me to slip the gun into my pocket as we went outside – the grip of my Browning clutched tight in my right hand. I started to feel more like myself the moment I hit the fresh air and sunshine with a gun in my hand. Wait a minute!

I fought to move my mind faster as the fresh air washed through me. Why was my mind clearing? Could I have been mind-fucked? I didn’t feel like I would with Mommie Dearest or Belle Morte messing with my mind. No, this was more of a cordial release than freedom I didn’t know I needed. Then another idea came to mind. I had wanted to accept everything too fast before. In spite of the fact that my instincts had faithfully kicked in when I needed my common sense backed up most, I think that trusting those two old people was never going to happen again.

This twist in reality I did not like. Why would I have agreed to let any child in my care go to school in another country? Hell, I bet the old fart spelled us before knocking on the door. Somehow, I doubted the kid would be in my lover’s arms upstairs if the old man knew what he was getting my sister’s child into by giving Harry to me.

Micah made pleasant small talk and explained our presence to the neighbors, while I answered questions as sweetly as my strained nerves could manage. All and all I thought I didn’t do that bad. Although, I certainly didn’t make any friends among Larry and Tammy’s neighbors this morning.

No one saw a thing and no one in the neighborhood was unaccounted as we gathered through the sea of garbage that we didn’t want to know. Eventually, Larry’s nice and normal neighbors brushed the sound off as a car with a bad backfire. I was not as sure. However, I would not inspect this gift horse’s back molars too closely.

Instead of calling in the police, everyone returned to their busy and obtuse lives. Were the cops called in I knew whoever was sent would force the three of us into explaining our presence in Larry and Tammy’s house for the millionth time and even more. There stood a good chance that whoever came was new or didn’t know me well enough if they even trusted me. With that, Dolph or Zerbrowski would have had a called in on the case.

Even worse, the police would want me to explain how I suddenly had a baby. After what happened when Tammy discovered and revealed her pregnancy, the discussion about Harry I was not looking forward to in the least. Dolph would never have believed what had happened to me so far today and likely would have taken Harry from me until I could prove I hold legal custody, and then would have had DCF on me every chance he had. Hell, my luck he would have fixed it so he got custody to turn Harry against us.

Yawning seemed to help convince the lingering and nicely questioning neighbors that it was time to let us go so they could create whatever stories they would about our family. I refused to move into this sort of area ever again. Remembering the house Micah, Nathaniel, Damien, and I lived in before made me cringe internally. I wondered what sort of talk we inspired within the neighborhood gossip. Shaking that off, Micah and I went back inside to get to know our new son.

The second we got inside, Micah locked the door and helped me to check around the perimeter of the house. We were not paranoid. After all, it is not paranoia if they really are coming after you. Nothing more appeared outside than boring suburbia. There were still a few neighbors looking our way making their small talk. Subconsciously, my ear began burning. I knew it was just my head, but the locals didn’t make things any easier.

Locking the back door, I finally let go a sigh of relief before calling out, “All clear, Nathaniel.”

“Me-ma!” Harry growled.

I looked up the stairs in shock. That was the first thing I had ever heard my sister’s baby say. Harry, it seemed, was going to be as bossy as I was as a child. Joy, I would suffer what I put Dad and Judith through in a much younger package. What was I getting myself into with this mommy business?

This was such a bad idea. I had no idea how to take care of a baby! Judith and Grandma Blake refused to let me have anything to do with Josh when he was in diapers. Then I thought how we had no diapers, food, formula, or bottles. We were nowhere near ready for this job.

“Harry, your Momma Anita and Daddy Micah had to make sure we’re safe.” Nathaniel admonished the baby as the two of them got to the bottom step. Oh man, the kid had my submissive sweetie wrapped around that cute little finger of his.

Micah smirked as he kissed the top of our kid’s head and earned an amusing purring from Harry. The two of them locked eyes and I saw an expression on Micah’s face that I couldn’t understand. With a blink, the expression was gone and my king was back, but I had to wonder if the weird mind-fuck came from the old couple or not.

I scanned the boy again, but I felt nothing more than the odd quality that screamed this child was not human. Not undead or furry, but my powers knew there was something different about this baby. Harry looked back at me and seemed near tears. No way could this kid know I understood he was different.

Nathaniel gave me an odd look, meaning he noticed my discomfort. I sighed. “Something is going on. I think we were mind … well, you know what I mean.”

My revelation made Micah tense. “The Professors?”

“I don’t think so.” I admitted. “Whatever Lily’s other sister and her family did to this kid, it had to be bad. If I’m right, Harry was so desperate for a new home he willed us to agree.”

Before we could discuss the matter any further there was a knocking at the door. I growled. “Did we wake up in Grand Central Station?”

That made Nathaniel snort, got him. I smiled at Nathaniel while he slowly understood he walked into my little trap. At least I had lightened my love’s mood.

Once I stood by the door, there were two snaps like bullets again! While I pulled my gun out, I turned to I see Nathaniel rush up the stairs with Harry again. Micah started to get into a good ambush position. I knew my Nimir-Raj would never let me go into a fight alone if he could help, like now. We were getting too used to this new ‘protect the baby’ routine.

As I put my hand to the handle, there was a bright flash. Then I heard Dumbledore’s jovial voice. I decided it had to be the old man’s vocal version of a cop face. “Well, that’s that Cornelius. Harry is with his new family and the Dursleys are awaiting their sentencing.”

“I don’t see why you made such a fuss over the boy, Dumbledore.” A tight, biting voice snapped. “We could have just as easily done this business without you.”

The man called Cornelius was sinking on my trust meter. An achievement, given he began at zero. A glance at Micah showed me that he didn’t like this unknown man any more than I did.

Dumbledore sighed. “I had a fondness for the child’s parents. Call this my making sure Harry has a safe home.”

“Whatever.” Cornelius grumbled. “I have duties, so you two will excuse us. Come along Hughes.”

Another two shots and I jumped when another knock came to the door. Neither Micah nor I called out. Nathaniel knew to keep himself and Harry quiet. Silence rarely killed. Dumbledore’s voice came through the steel door. “Everything is safe now, Ms. Blake. Only Severus and I stand before the door.”

“Safe? You do not know my definition of that word.” I growled.

Dumbledore chuckled. “Of such I have no doubt. Might we come in for another visit? I need to be certain that all of you are yourselves.”

I didn´t know why, but I opened the door. Yes, it was the same old man from earlier in the morning. Beside him stood a thin man with sallow skin, a large, hooked nose, and beady black eyes that felt cold and reminded me of dark tunnels. His hair fell to shoulder-length, was a greasy black and framed his face.

Like Dumbledore, this Severus was not dressed as people I interacted with normally did. They looked more like a cross between Charles Dickens and the movie Labyrinth. The robes the younger of the two wore made the impression of some great bat. So much so that to be certain I was not looking at a vampire able to shield from me I had to scan the man.

No, not preternatural in any sense that I knew. Yet, this man was no more human than Harry or I. There was something about him. A quick scan of Dumbledore showed me the same feeling, though with him and Severus there was a different flavor. Compare the three to three different lycanthrope groups, though none was furry if my powers worked right. I felt fine, so I knew there was nothing wrong with my powers.

“Where did the gun shots came from and why are the neighbors not out investigating like they did the last time?” I demanded.

Dumbledore smiled and nodded. “That is one of our means of travel. Forgive me for earlier, I forgot to shield the sound from your world. May we come in?”

I looked to Micah because I couldn’t think of a single reason why they couldn’t. Unfortunately, neither could my leopard king. With a sigh, I nodded in agreement and stepped back to give the pair leeway.

Once the two were far enough from the stairs for my comfort, I called up above us. “Nathaniel? All clear again.”

This time, Harry was crying in Nathaniel’s arms as the two came to join us. “He’s scared, Anita. And I can’t get him to calm down.”

As soon as I got my gun holstered, I took Harry from Nathaniel and rubbed his back. After many bounces and back rubs, Harry slowly calmed down. However, he remained clinched tight to me as he, Nathaniel, and I sat on the couch. Micah took his place behind us again.

By this time, my nerves were fraying and I knew a part of this was mine alone. However, I was still sensing Richard. Clearly, he was only covering himself to make me happy. As bad as I wanted to calm him or give him comfort, I knew Richard needed as few distractions as he could have. I didn’t want him to have an accident, so I took a breath and tried to hold my shit off him.

“Professor Dumbledore,” Micah said. “What is going on here? Who was that other voice we heard?”

“That, Mr. Callahan, was the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge. He is recent to the post and is less that confident of his job’s security,” Dumbledore said.

Nathaniel rested a hand on Harry. “What does that have to do with him showing up here?”

Severus answered shortly. “The Minister is of the belief should he to have custody of the Potter child, his placement would be assured through his lifetime and he would get public sympathy for taking in so famous a war orphan.”

“I take it you have no great affections of any sort towards this Fudge character.” I observed.

“None at all.”

That gave this Severus man a higher credit with me than I expected. Dumbledore broke into my thoughts. “I have forgotten my manners in the rush to secure Harry’s safety. This is Professor Severus Snape – he is our newly announced Potions Master _._ Severus, these individuals are Nathaniel Graison, Micah Callahan, and their lady, Ms. Anita Blake.”

All we received were head nods. Well, the man was not trying to be anyone but himself. That gave him a small bonus with me. “And Potter is here, why?”

“Lily was my half-sister,” I said.

Saying my sister’s name left this Professor stricken for a moment before he recovered his composure, but I saw the change. “Better here than leaving the boy with her full sister.”

“Actually, Mrs. Dursley too is only Lily’s half-sister,” Micah explained.

I nodded in agreement. “They shared a mother while Lily and I shared our father. Not that he ever admitted that.”

“And now Potter will be spoiled like his father.” Severus lowered my expectations of him.

Nathaniel glared. “Harry will be loved and cherished, no more than that. I don’t care what you thought of his father, Professor. Harry will be his own person. Judge him on that or otherwise leave him alone.”

I had never seen him so sensitive about someone else’s judgment, let alone stand up to say it. There was something behind his outburst. A glimpse of Richard mocking Nathaniel as a ‘freak’ came to my mind and I understood. As brave and loving as my lover could be, the harsh words did wound him. I was going to turn this around somehow.

“ _He is one._ ” Richard growled in my mind.

I shook as I tried to keep my girls calm. “ _Richard, don’t you dare say that to me again._ ”

Richard snorted, “ _Don’t tell me you intend on raising a child around that stripper freak! Going to move the kid in with the vamps too?_ ”

Once I had agreed that the Circus was not the sort of place to raise a baby, but Jean-Claude had renovated it and made it feel more like a home. I still missed sun and windows though. Once I couldn’t see myself living under the Circus, but the place was home now.

“ _You fucking are!_ ” Richard spat at me. “ _You are taking a baby into the monster’s den!_ ”

“I’m okay.” Nathaniel whispered to me in my ear.

He took my tension wrong. “It doesn’t make it right. And Richard is being himself.”

Micah shook his head. “He is under new stresses, Anita.”

“ _Mr. Perfect, trying to do anything to please._ ” Richard growled.

One deep breath later, I readied for my answer. “ _Better than throwing temper tantrums because he can’t be what he wants to be. Richard, don’t bother coming over if you refuse to show respect to ALL._ ”

My marks closed and I relaxed against the back of the couch. Maybe we could get a day house near the Circus. Still, I couldn’t move out of the Circus without putting our people into danger.

That was a different matter. I needed to focus on the here and now.

Micah set his hand on my shoulder, “Anita, remember that Richard is bitter right now. We still have no idea who talked or how we can get him back to work.”

“That still does not justify his attitude,” I snapped, which of course spooked Harry.

Nathaniel kissed Harry’s head. “Don’t worry, Harry. No one will take you from us.”

How I wished I could believe that. “I told Richard not to come over if he refuses to show respect to all.”

Severus glared at me. “There is no such thing as telepathy.”

“Actually we do mind speak.” I corrected. “Richard and I both have three vampire marks with The Master of this City, Jean-Claude. This means we three can speak mind-to-mind together or just two at a time the way that Richard and I just did.”

Nathaniel rested his head on my shoulder, “You didn’t have to do that, Anita. I’m used to Richard’s attitude.”

Remembering that I held an easily frightened child in my arms, I took a deep breath and caged my frustrations. “I don’t care that you are used to that, Nathaniel. We have to teach Harry what is right and wrong now. I will not have him learning it is acceptable to blow up and judge people unfairly.”

This made my sweetie smile. “I love you too, Anita.”

It was my turn to smile now. The look in his lavender eyes made the earlier frustrations worth everything to me. Nathaniel was happy and that made me settle into our situations a little better. I was also feeling guilty. Micah shouldn’t have needed to remind me of the situation Richard found himself in right now. Even worse, the guilt refused to fade no matter how right I felt.

Gently and with as much calm as I could manage, I opened my marks and felt a rush of frustration and bitterness flavored with rejection and self-loathing. Okay, Micah called it right. “ _Richard?_ ”

“ _What now?_ ” he snapped at me.

I hated swallowing my pride. “ _I’m sorry I blew up. And I wanted to know if this is the person you want Harry to emulate in any form._ ”

He was genuinely surprised that I said it. “ _How many fathers are you going to shovel onto this kid?_ ”

“ _Only those I love to the point that I can’t be without them without destroying the person I am._ ” That was a clear and honest answer. Then I realized a point. “ _That is if they want the job. So, do you?_ ”

“ _Do I what?_ ” Richard growled.

I shook my head. “ _Do you want the job? The pay is nonexistent and you have to spend in fact, the hours are awful, there is nothing but dirty work involved. Still, it’s a great workout I heard and in the end you leave a beautiful boy behind if we ever leave the world as it were._ ”

Ah, that did something. I felt Richard smirk and shake his head. “ _Sorry, I just have things set in my mind a specific way. God, I want this with you and me alone. We could be so good for Harry! Moreover, I know the weight of executing is wearing at you. Would the white picket fence and dog family image be that bad?_ ”

That irked me. “ _I can’t change myself into June Clever, Richard. That is not the person I am. As for dumping everyone for just you, would you really have me after I cast off all who make me everything I am right now?_ ”

“ _Anita, please let me think. I can’t see a baby in that world with all we have gone through and go through. Not with Marmee Noir or Belle Morte’s crap coming at you and into all of us. Why is the little house with a fence so horrible?_ ”

I sighed, “ _Yeah I’d like to have a house so now and then I could have windows and all. Nevertheless, Richard, we are not mundane. We could never fit in suburbia. Just staying the weekend in Larry and Tammy’s place taught me that. Micah and I received way too much information from the neighbors on everyone for three blocks. There would be no hiding the truth here, and I doubt it is a phenomena isolated to this area alone._ ”

He rested his head on the steering wheel, “ _I would have loved to try it with just you, me, and the baby. Just to see how great a normal life could be._ ”

“ _Richard, we are normal. It’s just that our normal is not the normal you expected as a child._ ” I argued.

Sighing hard Richard tried to block that he was near tears at having his dream so near and so far at the same time. “ _Please, let me cope alone._ ”

This time he shut down his marks to me tight, but he didn’t shield. I took it as a hopeful sign and left my marks open as a sign I would be open to talk.

Afterwards, I looked at the Potions Master. “Look I don’t care what you think about my links to Richard and Jean-Claude. As to the question of Harry’s future behavior, how Harry turns out is our duty. His behavior towards you will be yours. If you are going to push him the right way, anything at all is possible. However, if you damn him to be his father incarnate, he might become worse. Only you can make that choice.”

Severus’ harsh expression never changed. However, his eyes changed. I just couldn’t say how that mattered.

A pecking at the window started us, though the two professors were unmoved. Dumbledore slowly stood. “That will be my gift.”

“Gift?” I asked.

“Yes, this should help when you need to communicate with me or any of the other Professors at Hogwarts,” he said as he went to open the window.

The next moment a huge black owl flew in to land on the small perch I hadn’t notice Severus create. I had never seen such before, but it reminded me of a barn owl.

Dumbledore gave it a couple of pellets before petting its head. “This is the owl we spoke of. In our world, we send messages via owl. This particular breed is exclusive to our world and very swift.”

“It looks like a melanistic barn owl,” Nathaniel said.

This surprised me. “What is melanistic?”

“It means some owls have higher than normal amounts of pigment.” Nathaniel explained. “When I did go to school, I loved science class.”

Richard wouldn’t have seen that coming. I wondered if I should say something, but I decided that Richard should reach out to get to know Nathaniel himself. “That’s nice to know. Is this a he or she and what’s its name?”

Dumbledore smiled, “A female, but she has no name as of yet. That occurs with owners and is for life.”

Nathaniel smiled at me, “I have a good name. Why not call her Onyx?”

I personally had no name ideas and the name did fit her. Looking up and back I saw Micah smile as he nodded. Smiling I agreed. “Onyx is your name then.”

Onyx hooted.

Dumbledore settled back, clearly satisfied. He wouldn’t be when I was done. “Now, how about we go over this Fudge character and what he means to our custody of Harry.”

“I fear he will do anything to take Harry from you and yours, Ms. Blake.”

Nathaniel was shocked. “Even though living with us will keep Harry safe?”

Severus looked at us darkly. “Fudge only worries about what benefits himself. In his petty mind, there is no further threat. His main focus effectively is to own and mold the child our world is already dubbing ‘The-Boy-Who-Lived’ to his own ends.”

I grew to hate Fudge more by the second. “Harry is my son by virtue that I am his only loving aunt left.”

“You may have to defend such in either your or our court.” Dumbledore warned me. “I will work at my end to secure that the Muggle courts are used and their judgment agreed to as final. You, however, will have to prepare to fight.”

“We’re good at fighting for our own.” Micah pointed out with the slightest rise of his beast.

Smiling I knew how he really meant that statement. Still that knowledge I kept to myself.


	4. Dark Meetings and Reunions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the Mother of All Darkness attacks, how does she handle Anita with a baby? Will Mommie Dark take claim of Harry or Anita? Or does another have bigger plans for the pair?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shhh, don't tell Laurell K. Hamilton I've sprung Anita and her crew out for the night.  
> With Harry and company, J. K. Rowing said its alright.  
> There I'm covered head to tail.  
> No court rooms, law suits, or jail.

 

Half an hour later, we had a game plan about Fudge and his likely representatives. Dumbledore would move for their people to send the case into what he called Muggle court. We would keep Harry out of sight and never alone or with only humans watching him. Fudge was not trustworthy by either Professor’s definition, meaning he was never to come near my child.

As we adults had plotted over his head, Harry dosed off in my arms without releasing his death grip on my shirt. Lucky me, I was stuck holding the sleeping baby. This was it for me. I had become this little guy’s mom until he was old enough to be on his own. Glancing at Nathaniel I saw how giddy he looked and couldn’t help smiling at him.

For almost a year, he had hinted at wanting me to have a baby. I still thought we would be better off with a puppy. Maybe I could learn all this mommy stuff, but for now the kid would have to cope with the person I was. A good thing I had my Firestar tucked in the small of my back. No matter if he felt safe with me or not, I was not about to give up my guns for this bundle of snoring … fine, I’ll admit the kid is cute! However, he would learn gun safety from the crib.

My sleeping baby plight caused a twinkle in Dumbledore’s eyes when he looked at Harry and me, which annoyed me. I so wanted to wipe the expression off his face. However, I would need to yank Harry off my chest for that to work. Even more than teaching the head teacher a lesson, I didn’t want to deal with a screaming baby. Harry was cuter asleep than bawling.

“I think we will now leave you to settle down. Hopefully, Cornelius will not make any further attempts upon your new family again today. If he does I think you are prepared.” Dumbledore sighed though the moment to leave caused his twinkle to only dim.

Smirking I kept my comment about Fudge and what I would do to him to myself. After all, I would not be a good guardian to my sister’s baby if I treated every stranger like a rogue serial killer vampire. I hadn’t met this Fudge face-to-face yet, and I had no order of execution with his name on it. Besides, clearly the Headmaster’s focus was on protecting what remained of my baby sister. Yet, I had no idea what to think about the man. He was too manipulative for full trust. Still, he fought to help us keep Harry. And I thought my early years with Jean-Claude were confusing.

The two men left without a sound afterwards. At least we got information about Harry’s diet and sizes while the men were here. Micah grabbed his keys and kissed me. “I’ll be back in a bit.”

“Can you get me some chocolate too, please?” Nathaniel asked.

Chuckling softly, I smiled at my two men. “You are getting too girly with the chocolate thing, Nathaniel.”

“But, you don’t mind it.” he pointed out.

I rubbed the back of Harry’s head, suddenly feeling emotionally drained and I could not explain why. After a deep breath, I felt what was happening. God, no!

Looking at Micah, who had stopped less than a foot from the door, I felt strange. His voice told me that he saw I was in trouble. “Anita, are you okay?”

My head swam as I cried out, “Marmee Noir!”

As I felt my body fall, I knew that I was not ready for this fight. The world went hazy for a few beats and I heard muffled voices calling my name as I jostled about. Afterward, blackness followed. In my arms, I could still feel Harry against my chest, whimpering. Why hadn’t one of them grabbed Harry from me? I could fight on my own, but I couldn’t worry about Harry too!

The scent of rain and jasmine surrounded us. I didn’t want her near my baby.

“What is yours is mine, Necromancer,” she said.

Clutching Harry close, I growled, “Not him!”

“You belong to a child of my child and so you are my property. All you own is, in turn, mine.”

My mind searched for any hope to protect my son. Within heartbeats, I could feel my she-wolf pull out of me and sat before us growling. I dug the fingers of my free hand into her warm fur to have something solid to hold onto that could center me. Brave as my girl was, I still wished I could have released my cats, but all the big cats were Mommie Dark’s favorites and animals to call.

At first, Harry’s whimpers mixed in to increase both my fear of the dark and what it represented to me _._ I could feel this amused Mommie Dark and she swirled about to stoke the agony within me. Never before had I reacted to her like this, but Harry was involved directly, and he had no beast to protect him outside of my she-wolf _._

I prayed that Micah or Nathaniel would manage to wake up Harry so I could think a bit straighter. But as time passed and Marmee Noir increased the intensity of her toying, I understood she never intended Harry or me to escape her this time.

“Very good Necromancer, you have reasoned my intent correctly. One of you will be my vessel, though I prefer your flavor over the boy’s. Either way I will have flesh once more. Which shall I take as mine eternally, Necromancer? The boy or you?”

I wanted neither option and neither did my girl. I felt her pelt bristle as she growled, ready to sink teeth into form again.

“I have not yet forgotten that lesson your wolf taught me. As shadow, you cannot harm me. In the form of night, I will consume you.”

Suddenly, I could remember the nightly prayer my mother taught me before she died. One I fully intended to teach to Harry.What else did I have to use? Looking down on my little boy, I saw Harry was distracted and shivering from the fear that he held instinctively.

“Listen Harry, I want you to listen and calm down for me. Your Grandma Gabriela, my Mommy, taught this prayer to me when I was very little. I just hope it saves us both.”

My voice drew Harry back to focusing only on me. When I saw his scared green eyes I crossed myself and called out for help with all my heart for the both of us, “Angels of God, our guardians dear, to whom His love entrusts us here, ever this day be at our side to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.”

The dark around us rippled as I caught glimpses of wings. Warmth flooded into me and I willed the power to flow into my baby.

Marmee Noir was not pleased. “You are mine, Necromancer! You belong to me!”

Though they held back her threats, I could see our guardian angels would need just the tiniest of help. I took a deep breath and began to calm. After my case in Las Vegas, I knew that I had the power to call one special guardian to help against the Mother of All Darkness. I wasn’t sure if this far away I would be drawing in Phoebe Billings’ black dog or the true archangel I needed today more than ever. “Saint Michael the Archangel,” I called out unafraid for another hand to help, “defend us in battle.”

Like before, I saw a golden glow that became a burning sword passing by me to stand between Marmee Noir and us. As I saw the ghost of flaming wings that I knew so well, I could hear a breath of voice I had met only once before, “You are the Guardian of all against the Darkness. You who are no longer Mother, but Queen of the Day. We of Las Vegas all stand behind you.”

It was Michael, the black dog of a coven whose High Priestess helped me to defeat the Father of the Day just over a year earlier. I knew that I had a phone call to make when all of this was over, if not more.

This time, Michael didn’t have to beg me to finish my prayer. “Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host - by the Divine Power of God - cast into hell, Satan and all the evil spirits, who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.”

Marmee Noir withdrew at the triple sacred attack. Harry was still very frightened, but I was not as much as two of the angels picked us up – my girl included. A strange tingling sensation coated my skin that felt like a thick warm blanket or the feeling of me tucked in between two of my sweeties. My body relaxed as my mind slipped deeper into the darkness behind us.

A breath later, I felt us settle on the ground again. More warm fur birthed from my soul and I knew my cats were free to come protect us. They also wanted to cuddle Harry. I slowly opened my eyes to find that the scene around us lightened and we were lying in a brightly lit meadow. Harry was on my chest and my girls lay surrounding us.

Since they were calm and relaxed I knew the threat had left. But I had no idea where we were. God, I didn’t want us to be dead.

The thought seemed crazy since I only had Harry and my beasts with me. With that many lives connected to me, we wouldn’t be alone. Tall grasses filled with dewy mist hid us from probing eyes as sweet breeze washed over us reminding me of the world just after a rain.

I looked at the baby in my arms. “Are you scared now, sweetie?”

Harry shook his head and I began to wonder as he went to play with my girls. Our guardian angels got us out of the line of fire, but where did they take us? I couldn’t help smiling at Harry’s antics as he jumped on my girls and rolled off them. When I imagined my beasts, playground equipment was not an image that had come to my mind until now. My girls already loved this boy and I had to agree with them.

Back when Larry and Tammy had Angelica, I saw him going goofy over his baby girl and wondered how that happened. Now I knew. Harry was slowly becoming the light of my life. The sneaky little brat hadn’t as much as met Jean-Claude either. I laughed at how my wolf bossed Harry, who was getting a little too rough in his playing. Fine, the kid would be my son! I just hoped that when I told him what I knew about his blood Mom that he would not hate me for taking her place.

Harry climbed over my girls to hug me. Could he understand me when I was thinking to myself? Where the hell … heck were we? God, now I was censoring myself in my head! I knew the battle was long over and I had lost – badly.

Then I caught sound of someone walking around us from behind me. Whoever it was hid behind the grass and mist. I couldn’t decide if this was a foe or friendly because of the cover and my position. I hoped that if I could keep the baby calm that whoever it was would keep on going without finding us. Holding Harry made getting to my main gun impossible, provided that it was useful in a dream. Still I had my Firestar. Instantly, I had my free hand at the small of my back.

“Civilian is what I think you would cry out,” a light voice said in a questioning tone. “I am no threat, Anita.”

Harry reacted by trying to get to the voice and laughing. “Ma-ma! Ma-ma! Ma-ma!”

Numb, I sat there clutching my baby nephew closer. I knew this little guy was not screaming and fighting to get to me. I wasn´t his Ma-ma, my little boy so far had referred to me as Me-ma _._ Then the woman came out of the grass to sit on the corner of the blanket I hadn’t noticed was under me. She did all she could without speaking to make herself unthreatening to me.

I leaned back, but I did not relax nor did I release Harry. This woman was a stranger to me and easily could be a ruse to make me drop my defenses. She was pale like me, but her hair was more wavy than curly and the red tendrils fell just below her shoulders. Her eyes and Harry’s were the same beautiful shade of green. The woman had a thin mouth with soft rose lips that smiled at us. I didn’t need to ask further who she was.

My she-wolf moved to lie near her as if to say ‘see she is safe to us’. Then my kitties followed suit. I could feel that my girls were happy to see this woman. This woman they knew but never met before. I understood that it was my girls’ way of saying that the woman was blood of our blood like Harry.

Finally, I swallowed hard and let Harry go. Laughing and cooing, Harry drug his body over to her. “Ma-ma!”

She smiled softly and gathered Harry into her arms before she looked at me. “Hello, big sister.”

“Hello, Lily.”

Lily beamed at me. “Who would have believed I had so complex and wonderful a sister and never knew?”

“A better description would be a freak and monster.” God, I could at times sound so much like Richard!

“You are channeling some of his mood. It will help him see how much he hurt you,” Lily explained. “Richard hates himself because he feels cheated out of his ideals. Anita, the man dreamed of a house and the white picket fence since he was young.”

I tensed. “How did you know what I was thinking?”

“We are near the other side, Big Sister,” Lily explained. “The closer you are the more home you become.”

Sitting up I shook my head. “I don’t get it.”

“When you are in Heaven, voices are not needed. We think to one another. That makes it hard to be angry because no one can hide things from one another. That is not your gift by the way. Marmee Noir uses it to feed from you while you think you are strengthening yourself.”

“And I nearly always rely on it in an emergency.” I felt like screaming. Harry’s whimpering drew me back into the moment. He needed me to be strong. “That is how she gained as much food as she has.”

Lily shook her head. “She has fed off you in other lifetimes, Big Sister.”

Her eyes showed no deceit and I couldn’t smell any lies off her. “Are you saying that reincarnation is real?”

Smiling, she nodded. “Yes, that is why all your sweeties want you for their own alone. Each of them you have had a past life with and they feel the links you had with them. Those you have bonded to in this life, were you to line them up in order of their lives with you, then Richard is the next in line and he feels cheated that you are giving his next life with you to others.”

I shook my head and sighed hard. “Even if we both were normal humans, I couldn´t fit in that dream of his. I am not about to be for Richard what Nathaniel is for Micah and I. Lily, I cannot be the woman his mother is … I just can’t.”

My sister smiled. “Anita, you know in your heart that neither of us was born ‘human’ as you call it. We were both born to special destinies because we chose to fight the Dark in two different worlds.”

“It doesn’t mean I have to like the truth.” Shaking my head, I looked at her. “Why am I being so open? I am never this open to anyone.”

Lily beamed. “It is this place. Think of this as a world between worlds. However, I had to beg for this time with you. We need to say our goodbyes for a time.”

“Do we have any time to share?” I asked, wishing I could hold her, even if it was only here and this one time.

Lily chuckled as she reminded me that she was holding Harry by lifting her son just so. “Sissy, here, there is no time like you know it. I didn’t want to come too close too soon, or else you would have been in my arms by now.”

Slowly, we met halfway in blanket and I hugged my sister with all I had. “Wish we could have grown up together.”

“We would have sent Judith into an asylum,” Lily said through a laugh as she returned my hug in full. “I love you, Sis. As you are and for the woman I know you will become.”

I relaxed onto the blanket and used her leg for a pillow. This place made me feel safe and accepted. More than I ever had in my entire life. “Mommie Dark can’t come here. Am I right?”

“Yes,” Lily answered. “This place is a shielded area for you and for Harry. However, you need to fully accept who you are and what your loves are before you finally have full willing access. She has given up her soul for power with no signs of remorse. Very different contrast when compared to you and your vampire sweeties.”

“The Church has damned them as suicides and excommunicated me for what I cannot change. But some are like me and do not have the choice to turn or not, like Damian.” I pointed out.

Lily nodded. “But you know that much of Church doctrine has been presided over and molded by man. As you pointed out, their Pope excommunicated you. Yet, your prayers to date Our Father has answered and Holy items will react against evil by the power of your faith. Do you think you are removed from God or his Grace? Especially, when he sends his angels to fight on your behalf?”

I shook my head. “No, but I still have my hang ups.”

“Not hang ups really.” Lily pointed out. “You were trained to see the world a certain way. However, you are growing into your own beliefs.”

I looked up at Lily and smiled at how beautiful her hair was with the warm light flooding through the strands. “Sissy, can you speak for me? I mean ask my questions and tell me the answers?”

“Anita, you are a silly goose.” Lily laughed. “I am home again. All are one once home again, remember?”

A few moments later, I thought I had the answer. “You are even connected to the Almighty?”

Lily smiled and nodded. Taking a deep breath, I chickened out and asked a question I had in my mind for years. Even before I accepted my love for Jean-Claude, I wanted to know. “What happens to the souls of vampires?”

Lily smiled as if she knew what I had done. I wouldn’t be surprised if she did given she read my mind before. “It depends on the circumstances. During the day, the virus locks them in their bodies. Jean-Claude spoke of how he hurt. That was his soul longing to come home. However, when strong enough they can fight the virus and live for longer periods. It is why the older ones try to gain power, just so they can live.”

“I have done that with some of my vamps.” I admitted. “Helped them live long into the day.”

Cuddling Harry close, Lily nodded. “Yes, when your powers increase that happens to those who you are close to or you focus about often. Those of your side are whom you see as your people either in your mind or in heart.”

After a moment’s worth of thought, I came up with another point. “And those I would have rather not executed?”

“The more innocent vampires you had no choice but destroy, that is on a case by case basis. Most are returned to God’s love and light. Vittorio, for example of the other side of the coin, he was a dark of darkest soul. He chose the darkness. He is removed from God by his choices and hungers.”

I thought about my Damian. “What about those who are murdered by sunlight or fire?”

Her hand rubbed my head. “Tell Damian that his dear Perrin is safe and home with us. Perrin is waiting for the moment his precious friend and near brother returns home. That and the day Damian accepts his day walking as the gift Perrin pleaded for to protect Damian from his fate. Damian is a true day walker and must fight to throw off his fear.”

No one knew how often I prayed for the souls of my undead lovers. To have the confirmation that they still held a chance to be in Heaven meant so much to me. I smiled. “Damien misses Perrin deeply.”

“Perrin knows.” Lily smiled. “Warrick, too, was blessed by being accepted into Heaven. Just as what happened to Perrin, the angels brought Warrick’s soul home on God’s orders. That is why the flames that consumed them both were similar.”

My lips smiled a bit more. Warrick had been a Master vampire who came with representatives of the Vampire Council in a power play to kill us or force Jean-Claude to take the place of Mr. Oliver, the Earthmover. Because I killed that maniac instead of Jean-Claude, the Council wanted us at heel or killed. Oliver had tried to own me through another vampire, and then ordered me to kill Jean-Claude. One didn’t have to ask to know what happened instead.

Warrick and his Maker, Yvette, had been emissaries from their Master; Warrick’s powers had been suppressed for centuries, but once away from his Master Warrick grew into the powers of a Master vampire, giving him the butterfly as his animal-to-call. When Yvette wanted Warrick to kill innocents using his pyrokinetic powers, Warrick had sacrificed himself by turning his powers on his own body as he clung tight to Yvette, burning her to death as well.

I couldn’t see a butterfly without thinking about him.

Lily nodded. “There is a reason for that. Warrick left the order to watch over you and yours with every generation of butterflies.”

“What about Julianna and Ligeia? What became of them?” This was dangerously close to one of my deepest questions. Ligeia had been a vampire and my Requiem’s true love centuries before. When she threatened to take Requiem with her and leave the Court, Belle Morte had Ligeia killed.

Lily shook her head sadly. “There was more to her end than even Requiem knows right now, Sis.”

“What do you mean?”

She swallowed. “They were connected.”

I tried to think. There were many years between the two, centuries actually. Julianna had been a full human servant. Unlike my three marks with Jean-Claude, she had received all four marks from Asher. For twenty years, the three had been a happy family. Then religious zealots burned Julianna at the stake while another group of them scarred Asher with Holy Water in an attempt to burn the Devil out of him. Jean-Claude had been gone at that time, saying goodbye to his dying birth mother and arrived too late to save them both.

“Again, there is more to her as well.” This time the smile my sister wore was sad. “I will tell you their stories, for what has come before will be important later. However, there will be more to them than you now realize, Sissy. And you will not like how the stories will affect you personally.”

I wasn’t sure what she meant, but I knew instantly that I could trust Lily. My beasts loved her as much as I did. They were all lying around Harry and the two of us as protectors. Suddenly my mouth felt different. When I thought about it, my entire body felt different. How long had that been going on?

Lily rested her hand on my chest. “You wouldn’t want to see a vampire version of you relaxing with us. So your werevampirism stays settled in your body.”

“Why?” I still felt nervous.

An expression of calm lived within Lily’s eyes I wished I could feel, though my mind knew that her news was not going to be pleasant. “Sissy, you were not born human, remember. What sort of nonhuman absorbs the powers of those they are attacked by?”

“Necromancers?”

She shook her head. “That was what you became through your mother’s blood. What did you begin as in the womb before her blood solidified within you? The being you chose to be when you demanded to be born again to protect those you loved deeply.”

The answer escaped me. What could I be? I trusted Lily. Blood would not betray blood when the heart was true. Why could I not think of any answer?

Lily sighed. “Always so stubborn to avoid the obvious when you hate the answer. Let me tell you of the loves those you cherish lost. You will see by the end.”

Nodding, I relaxed to listen to the stories of two women I think I would have had interesting talks with had they survived to my time. But as she spoke, instead of imagining the events or event recalling them from the two we spoke of as I did with Jean-Claude, the events became real to me. I felt emotions, remembered back-stories, and knew secrets Lily never spoke about as she spoke.


	5. Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lily shows Anita a new way to tell someone a story that is better than Jean-Claude or any pensive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anita's mom is Laurell K. Hamilton,  
> Harry's other mom is JK Rowling.  
> We are going off to play together,  
> come on let's get going!

 

As Lily told me about Julianna and Ligeia, I felt my muscles loosen and relax while my mind became lost within their memories. Within the span of a few breaths, I could see what was happening as clear as if I were there. Yet, this transition did not feel as I would when I shared Jean-Claude’s memories. This was not as if I were witnessing what they lived. Instead, these memories went far deeper than that. As if I had stepped inside the screen during the middle of a movie and literally entered the scene as an unseen witness. Still this was even more involving than that. I simply couldn’t understand how I knew this, until I tried to touch a passing woman out of curiosity.

The woman was Julianna’s nearest neighbor and a village gossip. Greta, Julianna’s mother, never trusted the two faced mouth. This neighbor thought herself to good to stop and chat up a lowly near peasant child. The woman thought herself Queen of the community, so better than any house she did not covet as her own.

I jerked my hand back in panic and sat bolt upright, my chest heaving in fear. “What the hell was that?”

Lily smiled as she focused on calming down our precious son. “Relax big sister, it is only memories. Marie’s thoughts in this case were an assumption on Julianna’s part, though accurate to a point. Lie back down and allow me to continue.”

Were we in my reality I would have left and ran as far from Lily as I could, but we were between worlds. Instead, I took a few calming breaths and did as my sister told me. This time the transition was even faster. As if, I had cut the way in so there was no need to go step by step here. With the swiftness of the change I lost footing and lost my sense of self, falling into the person that once was Julianna de’ Byrinth.

The Italian countryside was beautiful after her birthday. A little wonder that Julianna had been born in the early spring, her favorite time of year. For years the servants would make her gifts and treats to make up for her parents’ lack of celebrations. Especially so on the young woman’s birthdays.

Julianna did not technically fit the term abused, but her family was far from accepting of the young woman. More along the idea of borderline neglect or abandonment at first was the worse she received in treatment. Anita found herself enough to note how close she and Julianna were in lives, since her own family never accepted her after the death of her mom. Anita’s mom was the same as Julianna’s elder brother. Both losses ripped what could have been a wonderful life from each of woman.

The only male heir healthy enough to come of age with any promise in the latest de’ Byrinth line had been the eldest, Gabriel. Of five children were: first born Gabriel, healthy Julianna, still-born Angelica, sickly Uriel, and finally Seline – who died three months after leaving her mother’s womb barren. After losing his littlest sister, Gabriel was protective of his only surviving sister.

When he was not studying, the boy was constantly playing with Julianna. Tag was their favorite game, yet the garden area their nurse assigned to them was so small. Most of their games were spent with him taking care of or saving his sister from injuries. Frustrated, he looked for another place nearby to play. Eventually, Gabriel found a large meadow near the garden that was hidden behind a rusted gate. Luck had it that a stranger looking for the village asked for assistance. The moment that their nurse turned her back to chat with the stranger the pair wandered off.

The meadow was wonderful and thrilling for the danger of whippings they would receive for leaving the garden. Julianna didn’t care. Here she could run free and didn’t have to fear impacts with garden plants or stone. Gabriel laughed and smiled at how free his decision made his favorite person in the world. Neither knew their parents had reason to keep the meadow secret.

The two played the rest of the day away until dusk gather around them. Dew from the cooling evening coated everything around the children. Neither paid attention to the threat until it was too late.

While running from a chasing Julianna, Gabriel slipped on the dew soaked grass. Twisting in a try to regain his footing, he fell into a chasm hidden by the tall grasses. He and Julianna screamed telling the adults finally where to look for the pair. Yet the grownups were too slow and the fall too far for Gabriel. His neck broke when his head collided with the ground. His chest stilled and the boy’s heart ceased to beat. Gabriel was no more.

Two children dead, one so sickly heaven was his most likely turn before long, and the other a mere girl. Fredrick de’ Byrinth felt cursed. He glared at his sole healthy surviving child as the cause of his sufferings. After Julianna’s birth, no child was safe from sickness or strife. His wife quickly became barren. Now his heir was gone because of this girl. Before long, the man was certain that his daughter either played with the devil or had demon blood in her veins.

A few months later, Julianna’s father brought in a tutor for the future he had planned for his only healthy child — religious Orders and the veil. Padre Cecilio was a wandering priest who would damn as much as he would bless. Older than her father by at least a decade, Julianna had bad feelings about the man. Anita too felt misgivings about the priest. The old man looked too fanatical for her tastes, and the looks he gave Julianna were not pious.

Maybe late fifties after a hard life, Cecilio was balding in the front with gray hair. His face was drawn with less than ideal levels of food for extended periods of time. This went with his thin, flesh barely covering his bone frame. His moderately bulbous nose was pitted and scared by either illness or acne, if not both. His chin pointed at the end and while clean shaven, he had stubble beginning to show. The bones and joints of his hands were prominent and looked hard even from afar.

Anita would never let this creep near her child, but Frederick was eager to move the man into his home. Even the protests of his wife went unnoticed as Frederick took Julianna out of her lessons to drag the girl before the man of the cloth. All the man of this house wanted to hear was his assumptions were right. Given Cecilio hated females of Julianna’s looks, such unfounded untruths were not hard to give.

“I have only come in time to seal her demons away, sir.” Cecilio sighed heavily. “She is too deeply infected by Satan to be salvaged within this life for any holy marriages save to Christ himself.”

Frederick openly glared at the child he once treasured and loved with all his soul. “Then once you reach your sixteenth year, into an Order you will go, child. Begin your teachings, good Padre.”

From the moment the priest arrived at her home, Padre Cecilio forced his interpretations of the Bible on the young woman. This first lesson was the model for all further to come. Julianna was only seven years of age at the time.

Cecilio pushed a whimpering Julianna off to the family chapel and pushed her to the floor. “Kneel at the alter, girl.”

Quickly, in order to end her time with him all the faster, Julianna knelt as if for communion just as her mother had taught her from the cradle. Yet, Julianna seemed to do so wrong.

Growling, Padre Cecilio got on the floor behind her and set his hard hands onto her shoulders before yanking the child upwards and back. “You are kneeling in reverence, not sleeping! Sit up with respect!”

His hands more slid than moved to her ribs. Here was a problem, for Julianna was very sensitive there and could not hold back her giggle has his fingers landed just under her armpits. Cecilio twisted Julianna around before giving the little girl a sound slap across the face. “You will not mock the Divine with you mirth, demon girl! Return to kneeling now! Obey!”

This last came when Julianna only lay reclined in horror and shock with tears running down her face along with a sob building in her throat. Now she was terrified of this man. He held complete control over her and was eager to mold her into the woman he would take on his travels when she finished ripening. Anita was shaken to her core in horror at the thought. Was this the assumptions of a child?

Lily’s voice whispered into her ear, “No, you are remembering what Julianna learned later on in her life.”

The vision moved on as Cecilio groped Julianna from shoulders to her waist in the guise of positioning her body for proper respect before the family’s alter. Stiffly, he stood with a groan. Taking a few steps away, Anita wondered what in the man’s bag was so interesting to leave a child of seven years kneeling for any length of time. Then she saw the rigid wood whip he smiled at as if this were his lover.

Then he spoke heatedly, “Tell me the place of a woman, child.”

Julianna was just a girl and had never asked about such before, so she had no idea, but gave her best guess. “Is it to mind the home and be a good mother?”

Anita watched as the arm flung back with all speed to return downward just where wood dug into the flesh of Julianna’s back. The little girl screamed as a searing pain ripped across her back. Padre Cecilio laughed at the satisfying sound of retribution. “Silence or there will be much more, child. You will learn your place. This is your family’s chapel so you will remain silent within its walls. Women are to keep silent in the Church for they are easily led astray by the Devil as you have been! Obey!”

Too young and frightened, Julianna couldn’t help the scream the next lashes to her back birth from her lips. Tears ran hot down her face and fear built in her heart with the agony of each rip into her clothing and flesh. She had never before met the Devil. In fact, she knew no one outside of her family and neighbors.

Cecilio took a step back to pull his robe around. Anita saw the blood stains and the obvious semen stains beneath those. The sick old fart got off on the beating! “So begins your future girl. You have sinned so greatly that your only hope of salvation is the veil and a life for Christ alone.”

If this was her future, Julianna prayed that Death would come for her before her father sent her to whatever convent he chose. Anita could understand it.

Once the lashes stopped, Julianna collapsed in pain and from loss of blood. Tears continued to run from her eyes as blood bathed her back and whimpers escaped her throat. The priest repositioned her body yet again – slower this time than before. Now he took his time in squeezing Julianna in places she never had an adult touch her before unless they carried her in their arms. She couldn’t help hearing the purr in his throat and she felt dirty for the touches.

Then the lash bit into her back again as the priest snapped at her harsh as the sting of his blows on her skin, “Foul temptress! Trying to rouse hungers of the flesh inside me as Eve did to her husband and master! I will put the fear of God and his Holy Word into you! Foul woman! Man is your master!”

Julianna wailed in agony as her back twitched in pleas to flee. What had she done wrong? That question no one could answer when she told her mother and nurse as they dressed her wounds afterwards. Her father naturally believed the priest because Frederick was right about his daughter’s demon blood. So, the beatings continued nearly every day. Padre Cecilio even went on to feed into her Father’s mind to send her to the Order connected to his Brotherhood. Almost a guarantee she would be his in time.

After a few years, Julianna learned what to do to avoid the sting of the whip. The problem was that she held a voracious curiosity about everything in the world. She held all her inquiries within as much as she could, yet she did have her slips and punishments. Her mind worried at questions raised by the text she learned from the family priest. So many times the Word of God contradicted itself. When she read only the words of Christ, she saw a different light on women and God’s love. However, questioning the Church or its Priests was a grave sin within her father’s house. That a woman asked the questions was worse. This irritated her for the majority of her life.

For ten years she rarely could go a day without a beating. Never did her father look at her directly or even spoke to her. Always he told another to give her a message, even if Julianna was standing there before him. Eventually, her mother faded away from the girl’s side as well. No longer fighting for her child and keeping silent herself for fear of the priest.

In the spring of 1688, Julianna was filled with dread and fear. Time was fast dwindling down to her sixteenth year and she knew her father would soon send her away. Yet, this year worked to alter her life forever.

Visiting the place she lost her innocence and her beloved elder brother, Julianna prayed as heathens would – in the open with nature as her Church and Priest. As the night fell, she did not care the lateness of the hour. Her father was away meeting a new visitor. The Priest was busily planning her fate. And Julianna only wanted a quick death as her brother had years before.

Once full dark came upon her, it filled the sky with beautiful stars. A cool breeze quietly wrapped around Julianna as if giving her a signal that she was not alone but not in danger. Maybe her brother had returned to give in the least solace or even permission to follow the path he slid down. Somehow, Julianna doubted such. Suicide tore one from God’s love.

Anita knew the sensation too well along with the taste in the air. Turning away from Julianna, brown eyes quickly found eyes she knew. But the face was very different as her mind knew it would be, but she was not ready for that reality.

Julianna sobbed as she confessed to her brother all the filth she felt and her fears. Tears poured down her face. Her words went on until she muttered and finally went silent. She waited God’s judgment, but felt no stinging blows or rejection. Rather Julianna felt a peace she could only call absolution. Her heart calmed and she could feel her lips just smile.

Mere weeks remained before Julianna would learn what cloister she would spend the remainder of her life within. Yet, an outsider had other plans. The man came from a court faraway from her home and such was all that Julianna knew with any certainty. As usual, her parents did not introduce her to the stranger. They only led him away as soon as the man disembarked the carriage. Julianna was entering from the gardens and neither of her parents spared her a glance or explanation.

They led the man into the house, chatting as if she were merely a misplaced servant. Julianna knew such was her fate since the death of Gabriel years before. Yet, just once, she would have liked a different life.

She barely caught sight of the man and doubted he saw her at all. Yet, he intrigued Julianna at how easily he could have anything he wanted from her family. Rather than the grand supper her parents had meticulously planned followed by worship in the chapel, Julianna heard the stranger whisper and her parents agreeing.

Anita felt the vampire powers at work here. Yes, the man could have anything he wanted as deeply as he had rolled the pair with him. Normally, she was dead set against such. Then again, this was not a normal circumstance either. After all she witnessed, Anita forgave the abuse of power that would not be regulated for centuries and in a country far from the place Julianna called home.

In hours, the stranger had Julianna’s parents house him in their bedchambers with them. They skipped the meal and fellowship for bed. Julianna could understand it. The trip was likely arduous and the man was probably too tired for normal hospitalities. Perhaps the next day or evening he would be sociable and hungry.

Julianna returned to the gardens for more fellowship as she found in the meadow. Not long after the threesome retired for the evening, Julianna was beneath the windows of her parents’ rooms and could hear the moans and cries she knew from her parents’ windows. Every time they spoke of trying to make another child, she would hear such noises and at times even louder still. However children were made, they were in the midst of such an attempt again.

She wondered about the stranger in those rooms with them. Was he suffering in their disregard or had he joined them? She shook her head of the naughty thought before the sin could show on her face for the priest to see and punish her for. Yet, she wondered about what they were doing and how she and her siblings were made. Would her next sibling belong in truth to a stranger?

Julianna shook the thought away then looked up to catch sight of a golden mane and ice blue eyes with the shade of the spring sky. So far away and yet she could make his beautiful face out clearly. For the shortest of eternities, their eyes remained locked upon one another’s.

After beats of adorations, the moans and screams of seeming pleasure stilled. Julianna became aware of her mother going to the man nude and shining with sweat. Yet, all Julianna could focus on was the man her mother too was worshiping with eyes and mind. He stood so much taller than her mother –who was the same height as Julianna– and was near angelic beautiful in both face and body. Gold floss for hair shone in the light of the candles as the thick waves flowed down to his shoulders framing a face no statue could dare compare to itself.

Her pulse raced as he had continued to focus only on her and for a moment she hoped to be wanted until she remembered her fate. She was promised to one of Christ’s Sisterhoods, the veil, and death after severe hardships and opportunities stolen away by death years before. Then she looked down to hide her tears as she returned to her chambers in a near run.

Never did she see the stranger in the day, but he arrived every night just after the sun had set for more than a week. Padre Cecilio disliked the man because of the obvious assumption of illicit sex in her parents’ faces in the mornings, and how they hungered for the man nearly more than they hungered for God. Add on that all his sermons went to waste since the family stopped coming to chapel and had turned all their attentions onto this man he had yet to see himself.

Anita worried. She could only guess, but there was the chance that the perverted priest wondered about the prize he had spent years molding into his slave. Rather than asking and listening for a whisper, this time Anita could feel her little sister’s agreement.

Fourteen nights into the visit, Julianna smiled as she glanced around the plant hiding her from the returning visitor. She had grown increasingly fascinated with the foreigner in spite of her promised fate. Her father’s guest was more handsome than any man she had ever seen before. The sounds she heard in the garden on her nightly walks inspired naughty thoughts within Julianna’s dreams.

Touches, moans from throats along with her own, and sensations she could not fully comprehend confused but excited her. Every morning the young woman would wake breathless, hot, and wet in her most private area. Her very skin felt light and barely clinging to her body while a charge of energy she could not understand flooded and filled her before spilling out to cover and enflame her tenuous skin. Julianna grew to hate the morning but loved the nights when she was alone to sleep and dream her unspoken dreams. Especially so when she quickly began to see and feel the stranger within them doing things to her she never knew could be done.

With thinking about her dreams, Julianna couldn’t help her racing heart and swifter breath. Her body was waking as she would in the morning. Julianna could feel her skin flush as the stranger entered the house and the power he gave off hummed through her to her soul. It seemed the man himself did not notice Julianna.

Instead he and her parents spoke softly. Something said by her mother amused their guest as he gave off a wondrous laugh. His laugh echoed as he and Julianna’s parents spoke away from where she stood watching. That wonderful laugh intoxicated Julianna as the sound trailed down her spine as if the man was touching her with his fingertips. She yearned to meet the strange man who came only at night to spend hours secluded within her parents’ chambers.

Padre Cecilio noted her presence when he was coming to question the stranger and this did not please the man. “What are you doing here, child?”

“I simply wanted to see if my parents …” Julianna started to create a story.

Unfortunately, the priest saw through her deception before she could finish. With a growl in his throat, the priest grabbed Julianna by the arm. “You are spoken for child. Come to confession and accept you punishment for the lust I see within your eyes and body now.”

For the first time, Julianna tried to fight back and cried out in pain when his hand cinched harder around her arm. Never had she thought to refuse the man her father had already all but given her to, but the feel of the stranger and the need to see him even if only a few moments more made her feet plant and drag as she whimpered and cried.

“Let me go! I will not confess to your sins ever again!”

Cecilio slapped Julianna to the floor and then clamped his hands on her to continue dragging her away to his torture chamber her still called the chapel. “You harlot! Time to again put you in your proper place! Beneath every man!”

The sound drew the attentions of both her father and their guest. The foreigner asked something of her father as Julianna lost sight of them when the priest pulled her down the hall forcefully.

This night felt like a night of hope. Instead of forced confessions, prayers for unneeded confessions, and physical punishments to chase off the Devil –mere steps from the chapel of torture– her father’s deep voice resonated in the hall. “What do you think you are doing to my daughter, priest?”

“She is defying God’s orders for her future and must come to confession before she falls further astray,” the Padre snapped in a low growl.

Instead, the voice of Julianna’s father snapped harshly, “Leave the girl be, sacerdote. She has not been introduced to our guest yet properly.”

“She is spoken for!” Padre Cecilio roared as if only his authority mattered.

Julianna’s father did not take well to this obvious disrespect. His voice darkened with anger, “Let the girl go this instant. You are not the only sacerdote in the area.”

Once Padre Cecilio did as told, Julianna was amazed in that her Father ordered his guards to seal the priest within the chapel for the night saying, “Perhaps it is you who should be asking forgiveness for your sin of pride. Unless you have sinned even further?”

Padre Cecilio made a terrible scene, but was drug away by the guards. Once they stood there alone, Julianna felt her blush slowly fade as she set her eyes to the floor. Better she not see her father’s disgust as she slowly stood. With the brush of the cool wind she felt weeks earlier, Julianna allowed herself the faintest of hopes.

Two fingers lifted her chin gently up until she was looking into the kind eyes she once remembered her father holding for her. Even the slightest of a smile rested on his lips. Though his eyes looked strange, Julianna could see the father she thought died with her elder brother.

“He will not take any claim upon you, my beautiful daughter. Come, you have not yet met our guest and he has visited for two weeks now. Such is not fitting a young woman of your standing. Especially since the man is single and well to do.” Her father touched the small of her back as he directed his child back towards his guest.

The man looked focused as he had when last their eyes met. The hum of his presence filled Julianna with peace and joy as her father escorted her with more pride than in years. “My dear friend, we have given the two of you a great wrong. So interesting you are to my wife and I that we have yet to introduce you to our daughter.”

Julianna felt slightly faint as fears crept into her heart. With the touch of her mother’s gentle hand, Julianna turned to see the woman too gently smiling at her, “Do not be so frightened, Julianna. Why don’t you take our guest for a tour of the gardens?”

“Will you not come with us?” Julianna asked in surprise. Her parents allowing her to go with a man she did not know without escort?

Her father chuckled, “We have to prepare for later tonight. Go and enjoy yourself.”

With that, Julianna’s parents left to ready for whatever they were expecting later in the night. Never had they allowed their daughter any time alone with a male stranger. The hum of power died down a little after they left the room. Was that why they changed so dramatically? She grew scared that soon they would return with the hate and revulsion in their eyes she knew too well and for too long. Yet, when she looked at the gentleman, Julianna felt no fear. As if, she knew he would not allow her unspoken fears to happen in his presence.

Instead of wondering how this miracle could happen, Julianna grew lost in his presence as he smiled at her. “Your Father has forgotten to introduce us.”

“He is excited for some happening. Please, do forgive him. I am Julianna ‘de Byrinth.” She flushed because being so forward was new to her. Was she behaving as a gentleman such as he would expect? Her training had lacked in such pleasantries since Cecilio had ruined her life.

Rather than ridicule Father, or Julianna, this stranger took her hand in his cool one before lightly pressing his cool lips against her knuckles. “That is a beautiful name fitting to so beautiful a young woman. Shall we enjoy the evening?”

As they walked that first night, Julianna found speech difficult at best. Instead, she was lost within him. His ice blue eyes were unlike any she had ever seen in her life and so much more beautiful this close than distant. Now she could see the hauntingly beautiful eyes were framed by lashed the same gold as his hair — golden threads that the young woman ached to touch. Yet, Julianna knew he was not here for her. Who would want a devil woman like her?

Anita knew this last. She knew the real reason the man was likely there. What he was often sent to do on behalf of his Mistress. Seduce and steal whatever she longed for or else moved decisions and make power plays she wanted done. The man would seduce her parents and leave in time. Yet, Anita could feel her little sister didn’t agree with her this time. Why?

The pair walked all around Julianna’s home as if they owned everything. She enjoyed the change of perspective. That was until the two of them came to the door to her chambers. Here the handsome stranger slipped from her side, leaving Julianna feeling lost and alone. Then Julianna remembered she had not asked his name hours before.

He brushed a cool kiss onto her forehead. “You will be safe from that priest tonight, dear Julianna. Safe to dream whatever your mind wills.”

She wondered how he could know of her sweet dreams. Would he be so kind if he knew what he did to her body in her mind as she slept? Most of her didn’t think he would mind.

As he moved away from the young woman, Julianna whispered, “I do not know your name.”

She blinked and suddenly he had moved from the end of the hall heading towards her parents’ chambers to standing before her again and Julianna had not seen the man move. No man could do such. No mere man could still feel so cold to the touch like wax frozen in the depths of a winter storm. Everything in her screamed ‘not normal’ when it came to this man. The realization made her pulse race and her breathing chase after it.

Then he took her deep into his arms. “You might be better if I held myself away from you, dear Julianna. What I am you could not survive as and the Court I come from would eat you alive.”

“I only care about you,” Julianna eventually managed to mutter under the weight of his stare.

Her soft and shaken voice birthed a curve on the edge of his lips as his voice ghosted over Julianna’s spine, “We shall see in time.”

Then she clung to the wall, empty of his touch and without him anywhere. The man was at neither end of the corridor nor anywhere within her sight. She had only blinked and he was utterly gone. To her frustration, he still had not answered her. That is until Julianna heard a ghostly breeze wrap around her. “I am called Asher.”

Cool breeze like in the meadow and the hall wrapped around her to give her another kiss of peace. Yes, he had willed her parents to behave as they had before her brother’s death. He had given her the peace in the meadow of her sorrows. But, why would he care at all? She couldn’t answer that, only he could. But he had and he would return again, she believed in that.

Julianna went into her rooms and leaned against the door with a content smile on her lips. Asher he called himself. As dramatic a name as was the man.

As she readied herself for bed, her thoughts went over the evening. She felt important for the first time in far too long. Brushing her hair, her mind became lost within his face and eyes her mind clung to until she could be with him again. She could imagine the touch of his power on the breeze he stirred wrapping around her as if to say goodnight. Smiling at her silly thoughts, Julianna set her brush down and went to settle under her covers.

While in the corner, Anita knew it was not silly. The man had influenced the young woman. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Centuries had past, but the fact that he had done so. Yet, it saved Julianna from a life the other woman did not want. But for what?

Before she could settle to full sleep and her heated dreams, Julianna felt the need to lock her doors. She knew this Asher did not trust Padre Cecilio in any means of the word. The question of how the young woman knew this did not enter into the realm of reality for Julianna. As wordlessly instructed, she locked her outer and bedroom doors, safe through the night.

Sunlight flowed into her room when Julianna next knew of time and reality. A beautiful morning had risen, such would have rang true had the peace of bird song not been disturbed by the commotion outside of her rooms. Quietly, Julianna slipped into her dressing gown and went to the door to find guards between Padre Cecilio and her father. The two men were staring one another down and Julianna feared speaking that her words would have their dual hates redirected at her.

A group of sisters that the young woman had never met stood glaring at Julianna from behind the Padre. Every one of them behaved as if the mere presence of the young woman was shameful in their eyes. Julianna didn’t know why they would think such. She had done nothing wrong except dream. What she dreamt was her business not theirs.

Before Julianna could move or even ask what was happening, the Padre grabbed her and threw the young woman into the hands of the nuns. “Search her for his marks and what he stole from Christ!”

The Sisters pulled their frightened captive away before her father could make a move against them. After many twists and turns, the women yanked Julianna into a cold and windowless room. Dully, Julianna recognized the place as a room her family used for storing winter food goods. She was thrown to the floor as the nuns encircled their prey. Only one male guard stood within the room as the torture commenced.

He lecherously smiled at Julianna as the nuns tore her clothing into shreds from her body. They yanked her hair and hit her every time that Julianna attempted to cover her nude body from the eyes of the very pleased guard. All the time the spiteful sisters demanded Julianna to confess the truth of her nighttime sins to them. The bad thing was that Julianna had no idea what sins they assumed she had committed.

Her scars from all the ‘lessons’ she had with Cecilio they attributed to fornication with the Devil and his minions. Julianna knew better, she had known no man or demon in her life outside of dreams!

Asher was no demon and certainly had not given her one mark on her back. She tried to argue only to be hit again. The hateful women touched Julianna’s personal area and stared into this part of her too long for her pleasure. When a finger wiped away the moisture caused by her previous night’s pleasure, the nun seemed pleased.

“She has been used, Sisters.”

“We must be sure before we report,” growled the eldest of them.

This nun brusquely shoved three of her fingers into Julianna’s body without warning or explanation. The assault made Julianna scream louder than the frightened young woman knew her voice could bellow out. Her stomach throbbed especially when Julianna pushed the old woman away from her. Seeing the blood on the nun’s fingers, Julianna touched the same place and wept as her hands too revealed smears of blood coating her fingers. Her virginity was rendered asunder, and not by any man! How could God see this foul deed or these foul women as righteous?

She collapsed to the floor and began to weep bitterly as the pain tore through her. There the victim of the Church wept until Julianna felt arms drape clothing around her followed by someone holding her tight. Now Julianna knew no man would have her, much less her precious Asher.

Her father roared in such a rage! “Get out of my house! This is not Christian love or obedience! I reject your Church and damn you all to Hell for stealing my daughter’s virtue then blackmailing me into giving her to your filthy Order! Get out of my house!”

Julianna remained silent, shaken by her ordeal. When she eventually was returned to her rooms, both she and her father saw each was decorated to hold out the Devil and his minions. Padre Cecilio had accused her of sinning in thought with Asher, but he could not prove any further sins. Then he argued that Asher was the agent of the Devil and unclean – a vampire.

Though she had heard of such and her father roared about stupid superstitions before he damned the Padre once again, Julianna had to wonder. Such explained what she witnessed the previous night. Yet, her Asher did not frighten her.

Becoming a Sister in an Order however did make her want to weep and throw herself from her window. Padre Cecilio saw only what he searched for in any person. Asher made her see she was worthy of affection and love. At least, he had the previous night. Now, Julianna just couldn’t be sure.

Julianna saw the beauty in Asher and the pain he tried to hide. In his eyes was a fear and self-hate she wished she could rid him of. Could he hate his existence? For some reason, Julianna doubted highly that Asher chose this reality for himself. If the man were a vampire, Julianna would willingly choose him over these so-called Christians. Nights and even drinking blood would be better after what she had suffered thus far.

Her father had the so-called Priest thrown out again as well as Julianna’s rooms cleaned of the Padre’s superstitions. However, come evening there were no signs of Asher’s promised return. Hours ran by without a sign. After a turn in the garden gave her nothing nor did her return to the door, Julianna decided someone had to have alerted Asher of the attack and of how another had used her. She returned to her rooms to weep alone until sleep claimed her mind.

In dreams, Julianna knew she could allow her feelings to flow freely. This night she opened herself to live what might have been with Asher. For, in Julianna’s mind, this was her final night of life. She had already decided that upon waking in the morning, she would end her life rather than face any Holy Orders or life without Asher. She smiled sadly as the idea that perhaps, someday, the two of them would reunite in God’s Grace.

As she slept, the feel of cool skin touched gently against her cheek woke Julianna. Next to her in the bed lay Asher. He gazed on her with a still face not unlike a statue of stone. “What has happened, _ma lutin_? You are pained and I feel rage in your father.”

His pet name brought a laugh out of her chest and throat as tears stung her eyes. His favorite place in the garden was the statue of Julianna when she was small as if her child self were a pixie. A birthday gift from her father and brother, because she had been born so small.

Her mirth pleased Asher, until Julianna wept in confession to him. All that had happened in the day she revealed as well as her plans to fall from her window to the death waiting within the stones below come sunrise. This last had him pinning the young woman to her bed in a rage.

“I never want to hear you consider such again!”

His soft sky blue eyes lit until they glowed in the same hue with his anger and terrified Julianna into screaming because of him for the first time. “Asher! Asher!”

A blink of her eyes and the man stood on the other side of her sleeping chamber, panting and tense. No, he was not human, yet he worried for the young woman’s well-being more than that priest had.

Julianna whimpered, “I’m sorry.”

“You are sorry when I am in the wrong?” Asher questioned before he laughed bitterly. “Julianna, I terrified you and you are sorry for such?”

Swallowing she spoke as softly as she could, “I am sorry that I am not the woman I was last night.”

“That is even more ridiculous than you apologizing at all. Such was against your will.” Slowly, Asher returned to her side and sat on the bed. “My mission here is nearly complete.”

Only fifteen nights and he had nearly finished. This concept forced Julianna’s heart to sink. She wanted Asher there with her longer — the rest of her life longer. Such it seemed were only dreams for her. “I understand.”

He took Julianna into his arms and kissed her for the first time full on the lips. Moist and cool but heated and promising with his every brush and withdraw. The feel of his kiss was all she had hoped for and nothing like she could have imagined. His arms locked her tight to his body and the tender kiss deepened into a hunger Julianna enjoyed. She felt the brush of something sharp against her tongue just before the scrape of its point. This caused the world to shatter into an explosion of lights as he suckled the wound his teeth had caused.

As Julianna began to come back from the brink of darkness panting, he returned her to the bed before lying atop her body. “Did you enjoy the taste of me, _ma lutin_?”

“What happened to me?” she gasped slowly.

Asher smiled enough to reveal his elongated canine teeth before he brushed his lips against hers again. “I am a vampire, _ma lutin_. What I have showed you is only a taste of my power. When I bite any being, I can bring on the physical completion one has by sex even before my partner and I can begin to enjoy ourselves. Did you enjoy the feeling?”

Smiling, Julianna took his face into her hands and tried for another such kiss. She had no idea what enjoyment they might have, but if all she had was a taste, she knew that she wanted more. He laughed at her need before covering her face in gentler kisses. Looking into his eyes, Julianna saw hope within them for the first time. Yet, still there was fear and doubts. How could she change it?

For a time he lay there looking at her. So many emotions played on his face she couldn’t keep up. Finally, he looked away as if not trying was better in his heart. What did he want from her? If he would want her for an eternal companion she was ready and eager to agree! Julianna moved to lift his face to look at her again, but Asher would have nothing of it.

He rolled off his lady to pull her body over some of his chest, becoming a pillow for his Julianna.”You thought I would not come tonight?”

Swallowing she nodded. Julianna could not trust her voice. She feared his abandonment and what the loss of his influence over her family could cost her.

“Why would you think that?” he asked nearly too softly for her to hear.

Julianna tried a few times before she could manage out the words, “you were not here when you normally return. I waited so long.”

Asher answered at first by embracing her as Julianna’s tears fell again. She had feared the worse. Life and her family had trained her to think such. After she stilled, he took a deep breath and began. “I was many miles away, sending an urgent message to the ruler of the Court I come from. The message was of great importance or else I would have come to you sooner. Forgive my tardiness and what my absence only implied rather than announced.”

Smiling up at him, Julianna nodded. “What will happen to us once your mission is finished?”

“In three nights time, someone very dear to me will arrive.” Asher began.

Julianna felt confused. “Dear? Are you spoken for?”

“I am not a lonely man, _ma lutin_. However, you might not feel as understanding in my heart as you clearly are about what sort of creature I am.”

Julianna couldn’t help her blush. “You have not attacked me and you treat me far better than any other has in my life. What you are doesn’t matter to me. I suspected you were vampire last night. You were trying to show me this, am I correct?”

When Asher nodded, Julianna continued. “I don’t want you to leave me. But if you are spoken for, how will your lady think when she comes to meet my family if she learns how I feel for you? I wish to become yours, but I have no idea how to do so. And if you are the love of another …”

Life seemed beyond unfair to her. What was she if he was spoken for all ready?

“ _Ma lutin_ , I love a man,” he admitted to her.

Julianna was trying to picture the woman who held the heart of Asher until he said the creature who stood between them was a man. A man who loved a man was a concept that Julianna had only heard condemned by priests. She would have asked if the love was brotherly or in deepest of friendships, yet something within his eyes told Julianna that no — the love was deep and romantic, as a man would a woman.

So many biblical stories came to mind. Sodom and Gomorrah stuck out the most for her. So, a man was first in the heart of her love. Julianna had never thought that true love was wrong, yet had never come across such a love either. Her rebellious mind argued why must the majority reserve love for only those fitting their view of right? Then again, such likely did not matter.

Likely, Asher was doing all of this to get her out of her dilemma. A deed of pity for a girl trapped by hate and misdirected blame. The idea of becoming a vampire flitted once again into her mind. “And what am I to you then?”

Asher’s expression filled with astonishment. “You do not care? Are you not in the least angry with me?”

“You love him, or you would not tell me. I cannot see what I am then,” Julianna explained softly, trying to hide her pain from him. “Why do you act on my behalf?”

That pain made Asher move her face to look at him. “I do so to guard a beautiful woman I would like to make a family with.”

“I am confused.” Julianna snapped. Such was a first for her. She had a kind temperament normally, but the events of the day and the conversation were nearly too upsetting.

He kissed the top of her head. “Jean-Claude is my first love, while you are my first lady love. He is as lonely as I and every time I am sent away without him, I fear for Jean-Claude while I am away from the Court.”

“Why stay there if the place is so horrible?” Julianna asked. “You told me last night the place would swallow me and I would not survive. Why return there?”

Asher kissed her lips the moment her face moved to see his eyes. Chaste and soft, but his eyes afterward held more hope than before. Julianna wanted to give him hope but could not see how.

“I want to leave, with Jean-Claude. But we are not strong and we would have no servants to tend us during the day. Essentially, we would be leaving what once was paradise for the hell of mortal earth after a fashion.”

“And you need someone to watch over you in the daytime?” Julianna wanted to be angry, but her heart ached instead. She had hoped for more.

Instead of confirming her fears, Asher held her close. “More than such I wish you to be always, _ma lutin_. Jean-Claude is losing himself as I had lost my sense of self for many centuries before he came to fall for me. We need grounding, we need a family.”

“Do you mean a reason to exist then?” Julianna innocently asked. She was confused but trying her best to understand.

Asher smiled and nodded before settling back into her bed and relishing the feel of her in his arms. “In three days, we two will meet his boat at the docks after sunset. As he is first in my life, Jean-Claude should have a say as well.”

Twisting her head, Julianna looked again into his ice blue eyes. “He shall have a say in what, Asher?”

“If we are a household of three,” Asher explained. “Should you agree, I want to make you into my human servant. Such is a marriage for my kind.”

“Then you wish to marry me?” she asked as her heart thudding in her throat.

He nodded before rubbing her back. “My Jean-Claude needs a family. We could give him that family – you and I.”

Snuggling into his embrace, Julianna smiled in joy and wondered about this Jean-Claude. Would he accept her? God, she hoped he would.

The idea of them marrying confused her. She thought she knew what would happen in the church if they tried to marry by human traditions, and such was saying if they could find a priest who would bless their rite. Her brother told her the vampire legends to frighten her and the priest had earlier filled her room with holy objects and plants. Again the impossible stood between her and happiness.

“How can we marry?”

Asher choked and sob of happiness before kissing her soundly once again. When they were panting and in complete understanding, he finally spoke. “You would give yourself to me… of your own free will? I feared you would refuse me for my first love.”

“Not when I love you too. As long as I am equal to you both, I would love to belong to the two of you.” Julianna said.

Asher pulled her closer as he spoke of the four marks a Master vampire could give a human and what each meant. With each mark, their souls would bind as one more and more. Their minds would become one. They would share dreams, could speak to one another’s mind, and she could feed her love by simply eating. So long as they each lived the other would live on.

The idea of sharing dreams made his love blush hot. Asher chuckled at Julianna’s reaction as he asked, “Are your dreams so intense, _ma lutin_?”

“You will simply have to wait and see.”

His eyes glowed and this time Julianna knew the cause was desire for her. She smiled and laughed. His lips cut away any further speech as Asher took claim of her mouth until she moaned and they both were shaking with need.

Once they broke apart, his throat sounded parched as he shakily spoke, “None but Belle Morte has stirred my body so, _ma lutin_. You would be quite the competition against her.”

“I want to make you happy, my Asher.” she whispered. “Who is this Belle Morte?”

“Someone I never want you to meet, _ma lutin_. You are all that is good and kind.” The embrace he wrapped his pixie in felt so desperate in her mind. Julianna wanted to give herself to him as his wife then rather than in three nights, but the rite still needed Jean-Claude’s approval and she needed his acceptance.

Asher’s voice sounded thick with such pain as he continued that it hurt her heart near physically, “That is why you are not her. Thank God for me that he has granted a creature of darkness such blessings.”

His words woke her curiosity as her heart promised to do as asked. Yet, Asher would not allow Julianna to question him about Belle Morte. Instead, he explained how the third and then the fourth marks would change his new love.

In Julianna’s mind, their marriage would hold stronger than any marriage done with vows and blessings of priests. She would drink from her husband while he bound them by ritual.

Three days left to wait until their wedding night. In three nights, Jean-Claude would come into Julianna’s life. In that short eternity, she would be free of the nightmare of what her future might have been.

As she began to drift off into sleep, Asher rubbed Julianna’s back. His not as sad as normal voice still made her want to leave then to meet their Jean-Claude. Julianna wanted them to be a family without the too long wait.

“In three nights, my love we will leave to meet our Jean-Claude. Tonight, sleep deeply and well. I will secure you as our bride.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sacerdote = Priest  
> Ma lutin = my pixie


	6. Family of Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Darkness comes along with changes. What is Jean-Claude to do? Think you know, I wouldn't be so sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is for entertainment purposes only. I do not own or claim to own any of Laurell K. Hamilton's characters nor those who belong to JK Rowling. Though my OC character are mine in full, thank you.

 

Julianna next remembered daylight and bird song that was uninterrupted by hate. Asher had left a white rose on her pillow with a note promising that the next night he would not be tardy. This made her think about their future. While her every day would be lonely and likely boring with everyday tasks, the nights would make up for the days. That is if their plans bore fruit.

The young woman slipped to the side of her bed and prayed with all of her heart and soul. Julianna first prayed for Jean-Claude’s safety on his long journey. That none would discover his secret, for she didn’t have to ask that Jean-Claude was as her love – a vampire. That the two were lost and nearly lost gave the answer to such a question. She prayed the ship was a good one and the weather would be benevolent to the crew and ship. Julianna then prayed that she could please Jean-Claude if such be God’s divine will. Finally, the young woman kept her heart’s promise to Asher by thanking God for him with her lips and soul.

When Julianna finished her prayers and dressed for the lonely day ahead, she went to find food to break her nightly fast. Before she could do that, her mother found her.

For the first time without Asher’s presence, the woman hugged and beamed a smile at Julianna. “Good morning, my baby girl.”

“Good morning to you as well, mother. What has you so pleased?”

The woman seemed near giggles. “Our guest has asked your father and me for your hand in marriage! Your father agreed and the pair set the date for in three nights. A dear friend of Asher’s is coming from their Court to act as protector as we go to a sacred place to their court a few nights travel from here and to officiate! There will be no veil but that of a bride for my daughter.”

The elder woman began preparing her child for the wedding the woman of the house had in her mind. Yet, as they rehearsed Julianna’s walk down the aisle and practiced the young bride’s vows of devotion and obedience to Asher, Julianna did not know how this ceremony could come about.

That night she again laid within the protection of her love’s arms as Julianna explained her day to him. Asher chuckled, “We will take care of that when the time comes, love. This I know I could love.”

Julianna looked up at him, “What?”

“Listening to your day while you rest in my arms,” Asher answered before giving a sigh.

Taking a breath of his cologne, she smiled and sighed before answering, “the majority will likely be very boring.”

Asher smiled and Anita could see his joy was genuine. This was the man she never got to see. Had she never bore witness to this history she knew she would have felt jealous of Julianna. To see this man truly happy without hiding some secret agony was a blessing Anita never thought to ask for. Even with all she and new her son had suffered to grant her this vision, this moment was worth all the pain and loss to Anita.

Each night, Asher would start the night in his future wife’s bed loving Julianna and reminding her of their future. The two counted down the time to their rendezvous. She would drift off to sleep in his protective arms then later wake to birdsong and sunlight. While the days dragged on eternally, each night vanished too soon since her love had to spend some time with her parents to continue the illusion of him working hard at his mission. Asher promised that soon the entire night would belong to him, Jean-Claude, and her.

Julianna and her mother hurried the last day along by preparing for the ride to the village to fetch Jean-Claude from the ship. By this time, her father was pleased with his daughter once again of his own free will. She saw the truth in his eyes, which lacked the glaze Asher’s powers held in them. He had not freely looked at Julianna with a smile since she was but seven years old.

For this blessing alone, Julianna was grateful to the vampire she hoped she would soon build a family with along with his first love.

Finally, the night arrived and Asher came soon after. He was smiling. “Tonight is our night, _ma lutin_. Jean-Claude is drawing nearer.”

“Will he accept me?” She whispered after they bid their farewells to her parents and sickly brother. Her fears were sending her heart racing.

Asher only smiled at Julianna as he helped her into the coach. Inside he held his betrothed to give them both comfort. Jean-Claude had no idea of the truth, and Asher wished God would hear his prayer for the softening of the man’s heart. The resemblance to Belle Morte was uncanny though softer, and Asher was certain such would not be welcomed at first – no matter the gentle nature of this beautiful lady.

After a too long ride to town, they finally arrived at the docks and Jean-Claude’s ship. The sight of a man beside one caused Asher to smile. “I see our husband-to-be is as eager to be here as we have been for his arrival.”

His companion came into the light and held Julianna mesmerized. Asher climbed out to embrace tightly a man whose hair was a mass of ebony curls. Jean-Claude’s skin was as if an artist carved him from a living stone lit from within by magic or Grace. Julianna saw the joy and relief on his face when he saw Asher. However, the first sight of her birthed horror and repulsion into his features.

Her worse fear that he would refuse the marriage seemed realized. Julianna knew that she was not a prize as her mother had been. Compared to her, Julianna was plain in looks. Yet, she never feared to inspire horror or repulsion at first sight within any man.

The two men whispered hurriedly in their native language, however, Julianna knew the decision without asking. Before they arrived, she had promised to herself that she would never stand between the lovers. They were together long before her and would last forever if she stepped aside. But keeping that promise tore her apart within.

Eventually, Asher convinced Jean-Claude to get into the carriage. The two sat across from Julianna who remained silent within her thoughts as the two men continued to speak in their native language. Jean-Claude seemed upset and desperate as he clung to Asher, which only cut deeper into Julianna’s heart. He was hurt and she could give no comfort to him for her rejected her presence every time she reached out to touch. Yet, they had no time to speak of their situation.

On the road home to the mansion, Padre Cecilio had the way blocked by a crowd of people. “Halt! Relinquish the witch and vampire and we will allow you to pass!”

A crowd of a dozen or more farmers and women with pitch fork and torch stood to fill the road. In the center was Cecilio, wearing a smug smirk on his face. Oh, he saw the carriage and knew the pair was within. Now he had his chance to avenge his smeared reputation with those of prestige in the village.

No other path led to her home and the road was too narrow to turn for any safe place. Then Julianna’s mind snapped on a truth. “Asher, they have no idea Jean-Claude is with us. If the two of you are swift enough, you both can escape!”

“And what of you?” Jean-Claude snapped with mistrust in his dark blue eyes she already loved. He was not convinced of this woman’s good heart. He could not when this Julianna looked so much like the foul beast that he had left in the French Court days earlier.

Kissing his cheek, Julianna accepted a new fate awaited her with a prayer whispered for the protection of these two. “Nothing will stop Padre Cecilio now that I have cost him face in the higher families of our village. I will remain as you two run while there is still a chance.”

Asher himself glared at his intended. “None of us will be sacrificed tonight.”

He climbed out to shouts and threats. Julianna whimpered as the carriage swayed side to side with the mob trying to climb after Asher.

“Get the monster!”

“Kill it! Kill it!”

“Where’s the witch?”

“Still within! Rip off the doors!”

Julianna had to save one of them. “Jean-Claude, they're coming! They don’t know you are here, grab Asher and run!”

The sneer on his face surprised her almost as deeply as his words hurt her. “And rip his dream of a little wife for himself asunder? Or are you hoping for their salvation from us?”

His last word was greeted with silence. The shaking had ceased. But Julianna had no idea what that could mean. After a few minutes, the coach moved on with only the sounds of the horse hooves to break into the silence.

Julianna was frightened. “Where is he?”

“Driving the coach,” Jean-Claude said shortly. “That way he can bespell those imbeciles and so move us away from that old man’s threats.”

Calmed, Julianna returned to her seat and the silence. Jean-Claude had not wanted to speak to her and Julianna respected this. After too short a journey, they arrived at her home. Asher opened the door and held out his hand to help Julianna to the ground. Then he muttered something to Jean-Claude as the second man descended next.

Leading the two men to the house, Julianna spoke not a word. Her heart was breaking as she saw the happy faces of her parents. The wedding would not happen and they would return to hating her. Yet, that was the fate she was meant to live.

Asher only gave the normal human greetings this time, compared to the lovers' greetings Julianna had witnessed many times since the second night. Yet, Julianna’s parents accepted the change without comment. “My friend arrived as we spoke about, Frederick.”

“Very good! A friend of yours is always welcome in my home.” Her father chuckled cheerfully.

Asher introduced Jean-Claude to Julianna’s parents. During this, Julianna was removing her cloak. Doing so revealed beneath that was her prettiest green and gold gown. Asher promised to take her that night, so Julianna had wanted him to see that she intended this to be forever – in her eyes she was his bride. Green she chose for fertility and gold for good fortunes. Now such choice of wardrobe felt a waste.

Asher nodded to Julianna’s parents. “I take it you have made the needed preparations for tonight.”

“Yes, Asher dearest,” her mother cooed.

Asher smiled. “Well done, go and rest until we have need of you.”

Julianna stood away from the men she wanted to be with, not looking at either of them. She felt it as her father took her mother’s hand, as they nodded, and when the pair finally went off. A look of confusion at Asher from her and he laughed the way that brushed down Julianna’s spine and made her move to the feeling of that barest of touches. How she would miss the feeling.

“I prepared for this night since our first meeting, _ma lutin_.”

Jean-Claude seemed less than amused by the development. “Then why did you call for my aid, after two weeks of hell, if you had this couple in hand?”

Asher went to Jean-Claude and kissed his companion as if the other man were a woman he wed himself to for many years. Rather than feeling distain for that many had taught her was a sin, Julianna felt fascinated by how deep their love ran. Who was she to come between such a love?

When Jean-Claude clamped himself around Asher tighter, Julianna knew how that felt. The need to have the man they both loved closer than flesh and bone could allow. The groans nearly stirred her own hungers, but she clamped down on those desires. Never again would she allow a man into her heart. Yet, she would never come between the two who once might have been her family.

Swallowing, the heartbroken young woman readied to leave them for the night. She loved Asher too much to tear him from that she knew was right. This was not filth, but love in its depths of soul. Her heart knew there was no room for her between them.

Watching them gaze into one another’s eyes after their kiss broke, she let go of her desires and gave away the man she loved. “I can show you to your rooms so you two will not be disturbed.”

Her words seemingly puzzled Asher for a moment. Then he smiled sadly, “You have changed your decision then?”

“I will not come between the two of you,” Julianna whispered.

Jean-Claude barked a cynical laugh. “What are you talking about?”

He hated this human woman child. For two weeks he lived in hell while the man he loved was find satisfaction with this girl and her parents. Now, he was forced to accept her as a part of their lives? How was such right? Now she would just graciously turn away all that Asher could give?

The hate and loathing in Jean-Claude’s heart and thoughts shocked Anita. This couldn’t be right! She had to be feeling the assumptions Julianna made based off his behaviors. Again Lily disagreed and Anita was heartsick. That one woman that she knew Jean-Claude mourned for daily once made him hate more than she herself ever had? It was too much.

Anita wanted to wake up or snap out of this, whatever it took. She wanted to be in Larry’s house with her sweeties and her son! But Lily didn’t have to say a word. Anita knew she started the ride and had to finish this life. Likely she would have to live Ligeia’s as well.

The tone of his words caused Julianna’s face to heat with shame. She turned her face away to hide her tears and Julianna felt more than heard their argument. Already, in her mind, she was a barrier to their happiness.

“Julianna,” Asher called to her so softly.

She wanted to go to him, yet Julianna forced her body to remain where she stood other than wiping her eyes. Then Jean-Claude went to her side. With the barest of touches, he turned her downcast eye up to his own. His dark blue endless eyes seemed upset, but the emotion did not seem focused at her. Yet he said nothing at all. She waited for him to say ‘no’ or ‘not you’, but Jean-Claude remained silently hating.

“ _Ma lutin_ , let us show Jean-Claude your statue.” Asher interrupted the pair.

All Julianna wanted was to run for her room to die of heartbreak or from a fall out her window. Yet, that could wait until later. The pair would leave before sunrise and likely would return from where they came from. Tonight she could behave her station and silently say her goodbyes to the dreams she made during the past three days and nights.

For hours, they walked the grounds as Julianna and Asher had that earlier night. Often Asher would trail away to give Jean-Claude and Julianna space to be together. Yet the pair remained silent. It was Asher who explained about the statue he loved so much. Jean-Claude was cold still though he did smirk just so for a brief second. Julianna shook that off in her mind as wishful thinking.

Slowly, Julianna accepted her losses and decided to try and make peace so that after her death nothing would come between her love and the man she wanted to know. “Was the trip hard? I have never traveled outside of Italy personally.”

Jean-Claude remained silent.

“Father does travel often. He used to tell bubby and I of awful voyages, before we lost my big brother, I mean.” Julianna persevered. “Since then, until Asher came I mean, my parents and I rarely talked. Only when I have had the nerve to complain about my ruined clothes and wounds from my lessons did we ever speak, which gave me more lessons more often than not.”

This caused Jean-Claude to growl before he snapped at her, “What sort of lessons for females ruins clothing and give wounds?”

“Training for taking on the veil,” Julianna answered softly. “The way Padre Cecilio did it anyway.”

Again the silence of the night ruled between them. Julianna blushing in embarrassment and Jean-Claude hating her for the acts of another, the end seemed clear. Yet, Asher held onto hope that he had the family he knew Jean-Claude needed.

A cold wind blew across that Julianna knew had nothing to do with Asher’s powers. A storm would arrive by dawn. She knew her home too well not to know that. “It will storm tonight or early tomorrow.”

“And you know that how?” Jean-Claude asked in a sneer.

Julianna was desperate to at least part on something of good terms. But the man seemed determined to have nothing to do with her. She gave up. “I know my home. The storm will hit either late tonight or in the early part of the morning. Come on, you two should not be outside in vile weather. I know there is a guest room without windows and I will leave orders that you two are not disturbed for any reason.”

Without waiting for his answer, Julianna walked away with her head higher than she thought she could hold it. Her heart no longer existed and soon she would follow. Asher moved to Jean-Claude and they spoke silently from her perspective.

Even Anita couldn’t pick up on what they were saying. The French was too fast and heated. All she could be sure was the pair were having a fight.

Then the rain came pouring. Julianna cried out, “You two can fight inside! Come on before this grows worse!”

Asher took Jean-Claude by the arm and forced the other man to go inside with them. Silently, Julianna was as good as her word. The room was spacious, private, and without windows for daylight to seep through. Jean-Claude was wordless, but such Julianna expected.

“As I promised, I will leave word you are not to be disturbed for any reason at all. Good night.”

She was gone before either man could process what had happened. That is how Julianna wanted their relationship that was not meant to be to end — a final good night and leave.

Her rooms felt so cold from the storm blowing through the open windows and the emptiness of the space. Julianna shut the windows quickly and got out of her wet garments. The she dried herself a little before composing one final letter.

**_Dear Mother and Father,_ **

**_Forgive my not remaining to say goodbye. Jean-Claude also came to judge me and found my personage and manners lacking. This means there will be no wedding after all. Forgive the shame I have brought onto you as I did when but a child._ **

**_I should have fallen, not Gabriel. He should be alive and I in the cold earth. I cannot bring him back, but I can stop my destroying all I involve myself within._ **

**_Please do not mourn me, for I was a mistake whose time has come to end. Please be happy and focus only on Uriel. He needs you._ **

**_I never stopped loving you and never will._ **

**_Farewell and all my hopes for a better future._ **

**_Julianna_ **

That chore finished. Julianna felt a strange calm. Yes, this was the right thing to do. She had caused enough pain.

Slipping into the shift she would have worn for their wedding night, Julianna also felt such loss. If she had just been a better person, the people she destroyed would not have been harmed. But she wasn’t and would never be.

Anita felt vampire powers, but she couldn’t feel specifically where they came from. Going to the window, she saw a woman smiling up at her. No, it was the bedroom windows the creature was smiling up at. This was not Julianna’s choice. She had to get help, but no one knew she was there.

“Don’t worry, Anita,” Lily whispered. “Watch and see what happens.”

Suddenly, Julianna erupted out of her rooms in grief and heartbreak. Before she had felt so calm and at peace. Definitely vampire powers.

Tears pouring down her face, Julianna ran into the storm despite her fear of thunder and lighting. She ran the path her feet knew by heart as her grief roared into swells greater than those on the sea. Once she made the meadow she could hear a voice calling to her. Could Gabriel be waiting in the ravine to take her home with him? She hoped so. The pain was too much.

She slipped in the wet grass twice, the second time hurting her ankle. Still, she was so tantalizingly close. Almost to her brother and love that would not reject her. Julianna sobbed with every limped move. She couldn’t run and fly into the abyss, but she could fall at the least.

Again she could hear her name on the wind. Yes, Gabriel was waiting for her just out of sight. Her brother still loved her. All she had to do to be with him was die. Death she only days before and even that night had welcomed.

Finally she found the cursed ledge and jumped, feeling happier than she had in ten lonely and too long years. Soon the ground would catch and break her body. The rain would cause a washout of the ravine. And the mud mixed with the debris would hide her body from the world. As she waited for the impact she heard her name on the wind and whispered, “I’m coming, bubby.”

Then happiness was snatch away. Her body was caught, but not by the earth or the stone that stole her brother’s life. No a cold body and arms snatched her at the last possible moment. She screamed, “NO! Let me go! I was so close! Everyone would be free!”

Jean-Claude stared in horror at the young woman raging in his arms. She couldn’t have meant to end her life! Not when Asher had finally made him understand. “Julianna …”

“Put me down so I can drown! Bubby’s waiting for me!” She roared with tears covering her face as much as the pouring rain. “Let me die!”

Looking up, Jean-Claude could see behind his love the cause of their suffering. “Asher! There’s a night hag behind you!”

In a rage, Asher went after the vampire. Anita felt a sweet relief. Now the night made more sense. But, Julianna still wanted to die. Jean-Claude willed the young woman he had wronged into a gentle sleep. A moment before he leapt out of the chasm, he saw the softest of smiles. Not malicious or conniving, just natural and true. He forgot a smile could simply mean happiness.

When he landed, the rain was cleansing Asher of the blood and Julianna whimpered. Then both men saw her ankle was damaged. Her lips were growing blue and her sleeping body shivered causing more pain to radiate from her severely sprained ankle.

* * *

Hours later, Julianna awoke to birdsong and sunlight. Was it all a nightmare? Shifting in her bed answered her unspoken question — no dream at all. Her ankle hurt like mad along with her head. A ruined leg and sick on top of that. Her parents didn’t need this.

Speaking of, her mother smiled as she slipped into the room with food. Obviously, she had not found the letter or was ignoring its contents. “You’re awake. Good. I’m so sorry for the storm on your wedding night.”

“What happened?”

Her mother fussed with Julianna’s forehead a moment with a worried expression on her face. “You walked in your sleep last night and woke when a peal of thunder rolled loudly. Asher and his friend saw you run and chased you. But they didn’t get to you before you fell into the ravine that took your brother from us. I almost lost two of my children in that awful place.”

The woman began to weep. Then Julianna heard her father’s deep voice speaking softly from the door. “Good morning, my little lady.”

“Good morning, Father.”

“We were lucky for Jean-Claude’s assistance last night. The two of them have gone to secure the return trip to their Court. However, Asher wants you to remain in bed to keep you from becoming sick. He also left this note for you.” Frederick said as he gave his little girl the messages. “How are you feeling this morning?”

“I hurt, but that is mostly from my ankle. Am I feverish, Mother?” Julianna hated to hear her mother cry.

Thankfully the distraction worked. Sniffling, the woman checked again and shook her head. “You might be better off taking it easy today.”

Julianna nodded and settled back. After allowing her mother to feed her, the couple left to give their daughter time to rest. The pair had gone back to loving her with their true hearts.

Curious of how Asher said goodbye, Julianna opened the letter.

**_Ma Lutin,_ **

**_What was last night is over with and past. A foul one of our kind called a night hag attacked us and is the reason we all acted out of character last night._ **

**_Stay in bed today and rest. We are near. After all, that room was beautiful and offered by you, beloved._ **

**_We will ‘arrive’ earlier tonight by staying here. Moreover, I do not trust the local vampires. Your family we will have to make forget us all or move for their own safety._ **

**_If you still wish for us to become a family, Jean-Claude and I are thinking right once more and he has agreed. Now we only wait for the coming night and your choice._ **

**_All our love eternal._ **

**_A and JC_ **

The choice was hers. Neither man wanted to reject her? Julianna shook her head at the message. Either neither would arrive or else either would reject her. She was deeply heartsick and wished Jean-Claude had not been there in time to catch her.

While the throbbing of her ankle made sleep difficult, she did now and again slip off into bouts of unconsciousness. Her mother came in with her noon meal and dinner. Each time the woman seemed more at peace that her child still lived. Julianna finally began to wonder if her death would have helped her family at all.

Good as their word, the men came to her room soon after the sun had set. Julianna was surprised how swift they came to her. Asher explained as he sat on her bed with his back against the headboard. “Power, _ma lutin_. We ran into your parents and made them remember our previous and earlier than expected arrival.”

“Oh,” Julianna answered. “Does the night hag’s power linger on?”

Asher nodded grimly. “It will be several day before we are righted again fully.”

Moments passed before Julianna sighed as she looked at Jean-Claude and tried to be ready for their departure, without her. “Do you feel better now?”

He moved away from the door to come to her bed and kneel before her as if she were a Queen of noble birth. Tears the softest of pink in color filled his eyes and Julianna could simply feel his words were true. “Forgive me, ma petite. I am so accustomed to the behaviors of Belle Morte’s Court that I have forgotten there are those who do believe in preserving all loves.”

Her small hand cupped his cheek and the tears fell. How could she feel angry with this man when he made her love so happy? “There is no need to forgive because you were hurt and I am unworthy.”

“You are beyond worthy,” Jean-Claude answered. “I have been comparing you to our Master Belle Morte. When Asher left me in France, those days were an agony. So short a time we were apart and still much happened that I will have haunting my mind forever.”

“Who is this Belle Morte? I want to hurt her for hurting they who I love.” Julianna growled in rage.

Asher shook his head. “ _Non_. Were fate to bless us, you will never meet her.”

Jean-Claude was stunned as he questioned, “they you love? After my sins against you?”

Her anger stopping, Julianna softly touched his cheek. “Asher has you in his heart first. He feared I would be angry with the two of you, but I am not. I see you both love one another eternally. How could I impede such?”

Again, Julianna’s mind whipped through all she knew to come up with an answer. “My father has a ship due to leave for Spain. However, promise me the two of you will never return to that awful Court. And protect Asher.”

Jean-Claude was confused. “Asher is speaking of our family and a marriage tonight. Now you speak of abandoning us after professing to love us both?”

“I will not stand between the two of you,” Julianna whispered as crystal clear tears fell from her eyes.

By this time, Asher had enough of the hidden truth he alone knew. “The two of you are still not speaking clearly to one another and vital truth is left unspoken.”

“ _Mon chardonneret_ ,” Jean-Claude said before he sighed in frustration. “I do not understand what is unspoken between us. What do you mean?”

Asher smiled. “You feel nothing towards her, Jean-Claude? No attraction, no desire, no bond?”

Julianna was confused until Jean-Claude shut his dark blue eyes. Then she felt her breath catch as her body went into his arms of its own volition.

“What is this?” Jean-Claude asked over her head as he embraced their possible eternal bond.

“The past, _mon ami_ ,” Asher explained. “The two of you share a past.”

Julianna looked at them with fear in her eyes. “I do not understand.”

“In a previous life,” Jean-Claude began, “we were family to one another.”

“How so?”

Asher sighed. “Souls are reborn every so often and old bonds can be recognized and even reestablished when one is sensitive enough.”

“I was taught,” Julianna interrupted, “that we die and go to Heaven forever.”

Jean-Claude smirked. “Then Heaven would have to be a very crowded place after so many to have lived and died.”

“Jean-Claude,” Asher said in a warning tone. Then he focused on the woman they now wanted more than any other before. “Julianna, such mythology was created by the Church. None of the mortal or even the undead could possibly know all there is to know about what is to come.”

She looked at him. “Then my questions are not sacrilegious at all?”

“ _Non_ ,” he agreed. Then he asked the question whose answer he feared, “will you still become my human servant?”

She looked at Jean-Claude to see the man nod slow and nervously. Smiling, Julianna laughed as the younger vampire pulled her into his arms kissed her mouth soundly. This she preferred over pain within his soul. Once they broke apart she felt cleaner within. Whatever had poisoned her before was at last gone.

Looking over at the man she would make her master. “Then … tonight?”

Asher answered for them all, “We will become a family united.”

Jean-Claude kissed her again in his joy before Asher came to his side. She had never felt so happy in her life and adored the joy in their eyes as well. Softly, Asher kissed Julianna’s cheek as he whispered into her ear. “Rest and make yourself ready, _ma lutin_. Jean-Claude and I will see your parents remember a grand ceremony of their dreams while we make sure our true wedding is not disturbed.”

Jean-Claude kissed her other cheek. “Thank you for making us a family true.”

Anita smiled at expressions she never truly glimpsed on the men she knew. Had she trained them to hold back so much? Or did she not make them as happy as Julianna once did? Then again, Julianna did not draw men into her circle of bed mates or even the darkest of evil.

“You are missing the point here, big sister,” Lily complained.

“Could you spell it out then? I hate guessing games,” Anita snapped. She felt jealous of a dead woman. How pathetic was she?

While she knew both men loved and mourned the loss of Julianna every night, Anita had no idea how deeply that love ran. Yes, she drove them away and walked away more than she shared. Still, Anita loved her sweeties.

Lily’s presences had yet to fade into the background again. “Are you beginning to understand the difference between you two ladies?”

“She accepted them freely but was willing to step aside just as easily,” Anita snapped. “I can’t let them in that far!”

“Why not? They allow you in even deeper than that were you to open to them,” Lily argued.

Anita roared, “All so-called love leaves or dies! Mom died, my friends died and abandoned me, you died, Kyle …”

“Chose money over love.” Lily finished. “Do you think he truly loved you? The way they love you?”

“Love is a fairytale and I can’t waste my time on stories,” Anita decided.

Lily shook her head as Julianna dosed off. “You are not learning. Harry loves you and never met you before he felt your power wrap around him to make him feel safe again — power that reminded him of me.”

“Exactly, he is transferring his love for you onto me and that will wear off eventually.” Anita charged.

“And turn either into coal or a diamond belonging only to you. What matters is do you take him as your baby or ship him away as our father did? The choice is yours.”

Julianna felt her heart race as she smiled from the two tingles their cool lips left behind on her skin. Her hopes were coming true in ways she had never imagined.

After a long sleep, Julianna stirred to see her parents standing at the foot of her bed not fully looking at her. It was almost as if they were in the midst of their own dreams. Asher and Jean-Claude stood behind them. Power and something that Julianna could not define caused Asher’s light blue eyes to glow.

Jean-Claude smiled at her as their eyes met. Her body felt for this new man in her life as Asher had from the moment she first met him. Dark blue eyes framed in black lace of lashes. His mane of dark curls framed pale skin that glowed like living stone. Her lips hungered for his mouth.

Yes, Julianna knew God had meant her to remain with these two with forever. Then she noticed the two men were nude, which caused her to blush as her chest sped with her rapid breathing. Julianna knew her life was to change, but now she was facing the reality and she could not help the waves of emotions hitting her rapidly.

“Good evening, _ma lutin_.” Asher whispered and Julianna felt the words caress over my skin as the lightest of touches promising so much more to come.

“My love,” Julianna held no fear of speaking the truth even before her parents.

Asher smiled. “Your father has plans on several Orders for your future. Is such your wish?”

“No.”

His smile increased which again sped Julianna’s heart. Asher then looked to Jean-Claude who nodded without having to look to the man he and Julianna both loved. Instead, the dark haired man was looking at Julianna with hunger in his face she knew well. For days now, her parents held the same expression for their Asher.

Then Asher smiled back on their new ladylove. Julianna loved his deep voice wrapping around her body. “I am not a lonely man, _ma lutin_. Jean-Claude is my first love. Were you to join yourself to me, you would also bond to him. Is such acceptable?”

Julianna felt her heart leapt in her chest. She could lay with them both men without destroying her hopes for further embraces. Nodding, Julianna began to breathe deeply in an attempt to calm her heart. Her strict parents were all that stood in their way. She prayed that the two of them would grant her this night and any more that she might receive.

Asher focused solely on her mother and father. “You have heard our Julianna’s wishes. Tomorrow night she will be packed and ready to leave with us as our wife. In a few weeks’ time you will forget us all and your daughter will be a happily married woman living with her husband in another country.”

“We hear and obey.” Her mother and father spoke nearly as if they were one. Julianna was stunned and so deliriously happy.

Asher placed a finger to his lips before Julianna could speak or mover. Then he returned his focus to her parents. “Go to your beds and sleep deeply throughout the night. Lock this chamber to protect our wedding night.”

Without another word, her parents went from Julianna’s rooms, locking the outer door of the chambers as ordered. At last, the three of them were alone. Suddenly, Julianna did not know what to do.

Jean-Claude joined her by lying next to her on the bed while Asher sat on her other side with his back lying against the headboard. “We intend to marry you by our way, _ma Julianna_. Do you wish such?”

“I can truly be with both of you? Neither of you are teasing me?” Julianna was amazed both men would agree to such.

Asher laughed with a sadness she wanted to erase. Whatever had harmed him in life Julianna wanted to banish. “We will be a ménage a trois, a household of three.”

“A marriage of three,” Julianna corrected and winced as she waited for the punishment to fall for her impertinence.

Instead, Asher touched her cheek softly as Jean-Claude kissed the other. The words flowing from the latter’s lips too were felt like living silk within her body as he spoke. “We will never harm you for being yourself, _ma petite_.”

Being herself? Julianna had no idea who she was and had no idea how these two expected her to behave now. Something inside her broke as she longed to weep for this safety Julianna didn’t feel worthy of. Why could not every young woman find two men so kind and loving?

As if reading her mind, Asher chuckled. “We belong with you as a marriage, _ma lutin_.”

Fully resting against her pillows, Julianna decided to allow the feelings they wrapped her in to soak into her soul as she smiled. After a few moments, she smiled at the man who would become her first husband. “I am ready to wed now, my Asher.”

He carefully pooled around Julianna’s body as Jean-Claude spooned against her. As she took a deep breath, Julianna felt a brush against her skin that quickly soaked deeper and deeper into her. She felt as if water flavored with those ice blue eyes she loved flowed within her body and filled her more than she thought possible. Just as the pooling bordered the edge of overflowing from her body, Julianna turned her face to Jean-Claude. Without a word or thought, he kissed Julianna deep and passionately. She felt some of the cool moisture merging within her before this then spilled into his mouth. Something about Jean-Claude poured into her in response like the water Asher had marked her soul. The kiss grew in intensity and need as the twin powers merged and swirled into a new form within her.

Once their kiss broke, the two moaned and panted as they tried to gather their tattered wits. They both wanted more. Asher breathed over their skins. “That was meant to be the first mark. Yet, I think we have made this ceremony into something more.”

“I don’t understand,” Julianna managed to mutter as she panted. “Did I do something wrong?”

Asher shook his head. “No, I think we have managed an impossible. Do you feel what I speak of, _mon ami_?”

Dark blue eyes closed until a moment later Jean-Claude nodded in agreement. “We both have given you the first mark, our bride. And yet you carry but a single mark.”

“One mark and yet you both are marked to me? What does that mean?” Julianna asked.

“It means that to a lesser extent, Jean-Claude too will be your Master,” Asher admitted as worry colored his features.

Jean-Claude shook his head and snapped in panic, “C'est impossible! Tels ne peuvent pas être faits, vous savent ceci! Comment est-ce que ceci a pu se produire?”

“I agree this should be impossible, Jean-Claude,” Asher interrupted. “As to how, I have no reference for such. I do know we must keep this secret between us alone.”

Taking their wife in his arms possessively, Jean-Claude nodded. “There can be no return to the Court.”

Asher smiled. “Such I intended the moment I sent for you, _mon ami_. Though, now we must also attempt to avoid others of our kind.”

“Have I done something wrong?” Julianna whispered.

The two vampires held her between them and kept her safe within their arms. Asher muttered into her ear softly, “You have made us more of a family than we thought possible, _notre petit miracle_. Our precious blessing is what you are. Perhaps, we might find the hope of Holy mercy and absolution one day with your precious heart as our guide.”

Jean-Claude kissed her cheek as blood tainted tears slid down his face. “We are blessed to have you in our lives.”

She smiled as their words warmed her heart. Julianna looked up at Asher. “Then we three are truly one.”

He nodded with a pride and strength in his eyes. “Only death or another coming to take claim of one of you from the mark that Jean-Claude and I have set onto you can undo this bind between us if what I suspect is true. We have created the bonds of human servant in a more powerful and meaningful manner.”

“May God never allow any to come between us three, my loves. I wish us to be a family forever,” Julianna prayed softly.

Asher smiled and it lit his bright eyes as Jean-Claude kissed their bride. He wanted her favor and did not fully understand that the two were one in her heart. Julianna whispered into his ear, “The three of us together forever: hearts, minds, and souls. May we all be found worthy in God’s eyes one day by our acts of kindness and faith in spite of the curse on you both by the Church on Earth.”

This more brought tears to Jean-Claude’s eyes as he astounded the woman he was sure he loved with a deep and lingering kiss. When this one broke, Julianna moaned in a pleasure she had never felt before. Jean-Claude laid himself carefully atop her with their lower areas pressed together tightly. The feeling was wondrous for her and caused his bride to moan not in pain, but in pleasure.

Jean-Claude smiled as he increased the pressure and Julianna writhed beneath him. “So ready for our touches are you, ma petite?”

“Yes!” she screamed.

Balls of fire hovered over her face and, for a moment, Julianna feared burning. Jean-Claude touched her breast as he soothed the beauty under him. “You will not be harmed, ma petite. Remember, this is the second mark. Such will merge you and Asher closer together. You will share dreams and he can feed from you feeding.”

The flames fell into her eyes and cast the world into a haze of the lightest blue, the eye color of Julianna’s golden haired husband. The feelings this gave made her moan once more. She took Asher’s hand, lifted her lower body in search of Jean-Claude finding him quickly and firmly as the magic filled her body and soul again. Before the power evaporated, Jean-Claude kissed their Julianna again and much that she would have lost flooded his mouth. She could feel him drinking in the power of the bond. His powers again reacted to join him into the sealing again.

Her cry was louder this time as the two broke the haunting kiss. Vibrations set off within her and Julianna knew the existence she was entering into was more than any one ordinary man could have offered her. Rather than fear of this night of change, she was happy and felt safe. Her bad leg shifted and she felt no pain.

“My ankle?”

Asher smiled, “What should have taken longer already is healed? I think we will need forever to explore the possibilities our joining creates.”

Julianna cried out as her two husbands pulled her shift up further and further to expose her lower body. In this, she grew nervous. Never had any man explored her lower realms, only that hag of a nun. Julianna became self-conscious, to which Asher whispered, “What was stolen matters not. More important is that which you freely give.”

That freed tears from her eyes not birthed of fear or pain. Julianna was grateful these men would accept her, damaged as she was. As proof, Jean-Claude gently kissed her lower lips as he had her face before parting her to kiss her nub softly. Imagining such actions and living their realities were different entirely. Cool lips played with the entrance to her core, leaving patches of chilled skin that fired with heat heartbeats later. Enjoying her thrashes of agonized pleasure, he smiled before his tongue entered her opening to lick and touch her insides hungrily.

Rolling his tongue around the inside of her opening caused Julianna to thrash her head back and forth more so as she gasped and moaned. Her hands gathered and pulled on the sheet beneath her body while he body to spasm more and more. Never had she ever imagined any man making her feel this way.

Asher smiled at how wide-eyed Julianna grew and how much he felt her hold back during Jean-Claude’s ministrations. Their bride wanted to be lady-like and not wanted to draw attention to their marriage bed. Yet, he felt within her hunger to roar out in her pleasure. How Asher wanted to listen to her cries and screams of pleasure. “Let it all pour out, ma lutin. We are alone this night with none to interfere. Jean-Claude and I assured such. This is our night.”

His words were all she needed as Julianna shrieked in tortured ecstasy. Jean-Claude was expertly bringing her body to the point of completion. Lips, fangs, tongue all working in harmony to wake pleasures in her body Julianna never knew resided within. Both vampires knew they would enjoy teaching her the pleasures of her body their first few decades of marriage as Julianna again roared in bliss.

Asher filled himself with power and intent as Jean-Claude climbed up Julianna’s body kiss by lick. The latter mutter and whispered as he rolled their precious bride with his voice to prepare her for their husband’s power to attach onto her body and mind. Both had used this technique in their past seductions for the Court. Yet this time they planned a different outcome.

As Jean-Claude began laying claim onto Julianna’s breasts, Asher focused on his bride’s neck. Sliding his hand under her jaw, Asher forced her neck to stretch so he could see his target better. Filled with power and full intent, he sank his fangs hard and deep into Julianna’s neck. This he could not make any easier for her. As his human servant, he could not roll her mind to lessen the pain of the initial tearing of his fangs into her flesh. However, there was one means at his disposal that would grant him the means of making his bride enjoy his feeding and the power he used to seal her soul tighter to his own.

He willed his power to entrance his wife to bring on her first orgasm as he fed from her neck. Julianna screamed with all she held within as she fell into her unconscious completion. She flushed and her muscles twitched in tension that slowly melted into satisfaction. Though her blood tasted so sweet and he loved the returned feeling of completion, he could feel what she wanted and tore from her neck as soon as their souls were empowered by the ritual yet his power remained in a constant flow within her body. Then he growled to Jean-Claude, “Feed from my servant’s mark wound, Jean-Claude. Feed and be ours.”

Tears flooded Jean-Claude’s eyes as he bent forward and sank his fangs into her neck wounds, waking their bride from her state of unknowing. Julianna warmed in her heart as he sucked her blood into his mouth and drank deeply, wrapping her dark-haired husband with arms and legs. Both of them could feel the power of Asher’s initial ritual merging Jean-Claude’s soul before pouring back into hers to merge just as Asher’s soul first blended into Julianna’s moments before. The three marks between all three lovers connected and were fully open. Julianna faintly could feel Jean-Claude in her mind as she too could feel Asher.

“ _Thank you, ma petite. Merci, mon_ _chardonneret._ ”

The cool voice she had heard moaning in passionate gratitude was within her mind! “Jean-Claude?”

Asher smiled and rubbed a bit of hair out of his new wife’s face. “ _Do not worry so, ma lutin. Remember what I told you about the third mark?_ ”

“We can speak mind-to-mind. Then this mark too binds us as three? What of the second mark?” she asked through her pants as her body recovered from losing its grasp on reality.

Nodding, Asher smiled. “ _Use your mind, ma lutin._ ”

Tentatively, Julianna whispered without her voice, “ _Can either of you hear me?_ ”

Both vampires smiled at her innocence. Jean-Claude kissed her as his mind sent softly, “ _Without a single problem, ma petite._ ”

This confirmation made her relax and smile as Jean-Claude lay next to her on the bed with his head on her shoulder and Asher take up his former spot against her headboard. Julianna felt their bodies had warmed and both men were very happy to have her in the bed with them.

“ _Je t’aime, ma petite._ ”

“ _I love you more, our Jean-Claude,_ ” Julianna whispered tiredly. She had lost a large amount of blood and felt so tired. Looking over at her Master, in spite of the pain in her neck, she asked, “ _The fourth mark?_ ”

“ _The fourth mark we are unable to share, love._ ” Asher warned as he mentally reminded their bride the ritual of the fourth mark. Julianna would drink his blood as he bounded them to one another for eternity. Her mind saw a way to seal their marriage eternal.

Looking up into the light blue-eyes of her husband and Master, Julianna prayed he too could see the idea formed within her mind. The idea that she would feed from both her husbands – Jean-Claude’s left hand over Asher’s heart.

Asher smiled at the woman he knew completed them. “I see into your mind as well, _ma lutin_. Brilliant idea you have created. Our bonds will remain unlike any other ever before seen in full.”

Then he smiled at their love and husband, “Shall we, _mon langue de soie_?”

Jean-Claude seemed awed as the pair both smiled into his eyes. This was what Julianna wanted in those long three days and nights without him, this happiness. Without questioning, her dark-haired husband kissed her deeply. Faintly, Julianna could feel his joy and gratitude. With this, their husband, her Master, flooded the young woman with a deep love. The three of them felt the truth as one — this night, at last, they all were home.

This kiss ended with a sigh of contentment from Jean-Claude. He had feared losing Asher to Julianna until Asher revealed the connection to her and she drew him into their bonding ceremony. Inspired by their shared husband, Julianna went after Jean-Claude’s neck, knowing that the younger vampire was highly sensitive there. Her lips, tongue, and teeth worked together to rub and graze against the sensitive skin brought a feral growl of lust in her dark husband’s throat she felt through her mouth. The feel of that power sent her pulse racing, made her body heat, and her core grew wetter.

With a mind-blowing speed, Jean-Claude roared and pushed her back down on the bed. He growled with deep, obvious hunger as the young vampire pinned his wife’s body under his own. “You tease!”

“And you loved every second.” Julianna purred. Now that she felt so free, her husbands enjoyed the vixen within the gentle and submissive former girl. All she lacked was sexual training they were more than willing to provide.

Both vampires chuckled within themselves, which slid into their precious wife, manipulating her body in ways Julianna never once imagined possible. “Stop teasing me, please.”

Her Master, lover, and golden husband wrapped his hand into Jean-Claude’s dark locks. Then Asher used this to tear back the other vampire’s head and expose Jean-Claude’s neck to lick where Julianna had tormented Jean-Claude. Asher’s tongue made their husband groan and sigh as the moist muscle slowly left a wet trail down that neck and shoulder as he traced the length. At the elbow, Asher nibbled and Julianna could see and just feel that Jean-Claude was enjoying his agony.

To add to the torture, she brushed her body hard against his phallus. Dark blue eyes lit with power as he begged for more. Eventually the pleading became swift and erotic French Julianna had no idea how to translate. All she was sure of was her actions worked to give her two husbands what they wanted and more than they dared dream.

Elbow became wrist as Julianna pressed herself against Jean-Claude in time with Asher’s seduction. Jean-Claude collapsed against their husband’s chest and laughed. “We three are undeniable.”

“Help me make us three, Jean-Claude,” Asher asked.

His winter sky blue eyes lit with his intent as he pulled Jean-Claude’s hand to cover his now beating heart. Julianna gave another thrust against the vampire’s aching excitement to push Jean-Claude further. Both sets of blue eyes lit her room in a ghostly blue light. Time at last to seal their marriage forever.

They both lifted her head until Julianna was nearly touching where flesh met flesh. Jean-Claude held her there as Asher took something from beside him. Bringing this forward, she could see that he held a silver dagger whose hilt was gold encrusted in areas by jewels.

This he used to slice open Jean-Claude’s skin as well as his own before muttering to their precious ladylove. “Drink, beloved, and become our wife eternal.”

She smiled before she licked away what blood had run down his chest as he spoke. Asher’s eyes fluttered closed in pleasure until Julianna made her way to the twin cuts. At their oozing wounds she clamped down and drank of them as the pair had her. Salty, sweet fluid that reminded her of metal flooded Julianna’s mouth and ran down her throat. As she drank heavily, she heard both of her husbands vowing at the same time, “Blood of our blood, flesh of our flesh, three minds with but one body, three souls wedded as one.”

Within her body and soul, a water gate opened freely as liquid warmth rushed over and through her. The surge swallowed Julianna whole, leaving her skin dancing from the power and a tingling in her fingertips. As the power hit the core of her being, Julianna jerked up and would have fallen to her bed or onto the floor had the strong arms of her two husbands not caught her safe. Rather than landing into harm, she curled up into the cocoon of their flesh. Her eyes shut to savor the changes in her body as her soul burned with tired pleasure.

She sighed as her mind and soul floated in calm. A hand brushed away the hairs from her face to draw her back into the world. Looking up, Julianna saw that Jean-Claude’s eyes were normal again. Shifting her head, she looked into Asher’s normal eyes as well. They were within her and she resided within them. No longer did they hold need for words between them.

Smiling Julianna sighed with her mind. “ _This is eternal?_ ”

Asher mentally answered in French, but she understood him now as if he spoke her own language. “ _Yes, my sweetness. And now any language we, Jean-Claude and I, know you know. We all three share our minds. Simply think and the knowledge will come to you._ ”

Her eyes closed as they spent the better part of what remained of their wedding night in vocally silent discussions about topics that her family’s awful priest would have her beaten merely for asking. Julianna felt alive with them and they enjoyed how happy their gift had made their bride.

“ _Master, you nor our husband have not taken my body as a husband would his bride on their wedding night,_ ” she whispered through her mind.

Asher and Jean-Claude both remained hard and eager. They had only wanted to wait for their beloved to set the night’s pace.

Warm lips took claim of hers as the other lips took her breast into a now hot mouth. Fangs scraped the flesh of her breast, causing Julianna to cry out into Asher’s mouth in pleasure. Jean-Claude brushed the tip of her hard nipples with his tongue before her clamped his dull teeth on the sensitive bit of hardened flesh before sucking the whole of her flesh as far as he safely could.

Breaking off their kiss, Asher panted out heavily, “Have you fed it today, _mon amour_?”

“ _Non_ , but I will not on _notre mariée_.” Jean-Claude refused before returning to his exploration of Julianna’s breast.

Julianna refused to allow her husband to go hungry in any way or form. “Fed what?”

“The ardeur, _ma lutin_. It is a power found within our Master’s line. Making love creates a power that Jean-Claude feeds on.” Asher explained.

Looking up at Jean-Claude, Julianna ached. She could feel a hunger within the man she loved. “Not even when our husband brought me? I would not mind it, our heart.”

“It has been too long,” Jean-Claude admitted finally. “I would hurt you.”

“Are you hurting?” Julianna’s voice broached no argument.

He looked down to keep from answering her. Yet, such was answer enough for his bride even given the fact that Julianna could feel his deep hunger.

Julianna pulled their husband from her breast and kissed his lips with all the love she could build within her heart. All three of them felt her yearnings just as they felt the moisture of her lips and the hunger of her pressing and pulling at his.

Asher chuckled at her thoughts, “ _Non, ma lutin_. I mean … _non_ , I will show you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ma lutin = my pixie  
> Mon amore = my love  
> Notre mariée = our bride  
> C'est impossible! = This is impossible!  
> Tels ne peuvent pas être faits, vous savent ceci! = Such cannot be made, you know this!  
> Comment est-ce que ceci a pu se produire? = How could this happen?


	7. Ties Bound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vampire weddings turn into honeymoons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is for entertainment purposes only. I do not own or claim to own any of Laurell K. Hamilton's characters nor those who belong to JK Rowling. Though my OC character are mine in full, thank you.

 

Asher moved between her legs after parting them hungrily and tested her opening with a single digit. Julianna was already wet and so very hot, but Asher wanted to make sure this first time would come with as little pain as he could manage. Julianna was nervous, excited, and even tighter than Asher had expected. Nevertheless, while he gently pressed his finger into her to his first knuckle, making her squeeze hard around it, their beloved reacted by moaning and pressing herself deeper onto his intrusion.

In Asher’s mind, the young woman was still very much a virgin bride. His needs too required met, but he wanted to make sure she could feed the hungers of himself and Jean-Claude fully, deeply and with as much pleasure as they could give her. Asher wanted their wife to grow wetter, meaning he would have a feast of her womanhood slowly. The first thing he smelt, as his face lowered to her body, was the aching need heating her core, mixed with the musk of their shared husband. Where the two had rubbed and teased one another mixed them to tease his senses. As he smelt both his loves in one, Asher smirked. That part of his new wife and family, Asher wanted to taste before he and Jean-Claude took her body in full.

The first lick against her hole caused Julianna to pant rapidly as her waist shifted and her fists captured the sheet beneath their bodies, pulling, twisting it tight. No, his bride had not expected this of her new Master. On his tongue was the hot juice flavored faintly with the sweetest of meat bathed in rainwater of the highest mountains. Her taste was unlike any the vampire had tasted before.

Asher had not expected to enjoy this act so much, but the surprise did not disappoint him. Instead, the unexpectedness only proved to him that he had been lost nearly too far. That a pure woman would taste like a light from heaven meant he knew too many loose women with no love left within their bodies.

Rather, he lifted Julianna’s lower body higher to accommodate her shorter stature so he could feed more easily. When his bride gasped in something of fright at his boldness, Asher took what she had given to himself and Jean-Claude of her own free will without revealing his intentions by asking his bride. Julianna shuttered as his tongue first hit against her aperture, intensifying both his needs and attack on her nether lips as if crushing them within a hungered kiss or feasting on the sweetest of blood sources imaginable.

Asher knew he could never be without this woman’s body again as he clamped her writhing hips to his face with both of his hands. To his pleasure, Julianna grabbed his head and tangled her fingers in golden hair to pull him tighter to her warm and oh so sweet hole.

Watching his lover and now husband, Jean-Claude came to understand how much Asher had withheld himself over the long time they had been apart and the in ecstasy lowered shields showed him another truth: Asher had remained true to him. The couple who had born their bride had only felt Asher’s bite — never enjoying him further. While that bite could only superficially satiate his thirst for blood, the vampire´s body had remained untouched.

This was the man’s first true pleasure in over two weeks.

As Julianna knew of the thoughts vaguely, she felt honored that Asher had made them both wait until their husband arrived. Jean-Claude kissed her lips in respect and true love.

Julianna could feel that this was risky if not outright suicidal. Belle Morte had ordered Asher to possess her parents so the witch could twist the choices of Julianna’s father to the female vampire’s orders. She shivered at the fear Jean-Claude felt. However, she knew that never again would she doubt her loves. Both Julianna and Jean-Claude knew now that this family meant all to Asher. For Julianna she would refuse to let anyone touch her family again.

Jean-Claude tore up at her determination. Her thoughts caused all of his fears to melt into a sense of peace. This was his family and he decided to give these two all of his self.

“ _Je t’aime, ma petite. Would you have me speak to you with my powers and drive your body further still into pleasures?_ ”

First all Julianna could manage was harsh nodding from the intensity of the passionate feasting their husband was taking from her core. Twice already had she lost lengths of time and prayed silently the night would never end. Slowly, she managed to piece together semblances of thoughts as she reached a hand to grab Jean-Claude’s hair, drawing his face closer for another stirring kiss.

As she claimed his lips hungrily, her mind screamed in need, “ _Please! Please! Love me too!_ ”

Such was all Jean-Claude needed and wanted to hear from his new wife. He kissed down from her jaw to her ear. Though now the young woman needed only to think to understand the French he muttered and growled into her ear, while in the midst of the double penetration to her body and soul, her mind could not create a coherent thought.

All Julianna could do was exist and accept wave after wave of passion and rolls of thunderous lighting pouring out from her most intimate place. Asher continued to claim her body with his mouth while Jean-Claude’s erotic voice vibrated into her very being. Occasionally a word or two would sink into her understanding. ‘Mine.’ ‘Eternal.’ ‘Beautiful angel.’ Along with many vows to remain with her, no matter what he had to do to make such happen.

Her eyes turned to his and soon drowned in their intense and burning blue as a veil within her slid away. His every syllable washed within Julianna, stroking her inner being with the softest brush of cool silk the color of his eyes. She loved the sensation of escape as their love pooled and claimed her mind and soul. She could taste him in her mouth and throat.

Pouring from her mouth were screams, pants, and gasps as her body fought to both escape the relentless persecution from the desires of her husbands as well as to force them to attack her body even more aggressively. Her every shift had Asher tightening his claim on her lower body and Jean-Claude had not ceased speaking his claim on her mind entirely. Julianna pulled on each man to keep them tighter to her body and allowed her feelings to drown her senses into obscurity.

Time became inconsequential and Julianna next could only remember rousing from darkness to see both of her husbands smiling down to her while her body felt as if a lighting storm was stirring her innards with bolts and winds wild with passion. Never had Julianna imagined such wondrous and near frightening contact between married people, but when she could focus again she heard her mouth scream all she had heard birthed from her mother’s voice with every attempt for a new child.

At last, the young woman knew in part what made her mother cry out yet beg for more. What few times alone she had before this night with her mother about this part of a wedding night covered nothing Julianna had experienced so far, and neither man had sheathed himself into her body yet.

Outside of their reality, Anita lay on the floor near the bed, groaning and enjoying every delicious spasm racking her body. She was in utter shock and for too long could not make a coherent thought for her life. Not even with both men taking her at the same time, Anita had ever felt the hungered ecstasy that this experience gave the woman. Once she came back from her dip into bliss, she panted three times before moaning out, “What was that?”

Lily smirked out of sight and chuckled. “Remember that Asher complained you were denying yourself and Jean-Claude by refusing to be rolled?”

While she fought the urge to relieve herself manually,Anita groaned out, “Yes.”

Revenge was sweet and Asher had no idea he was having his in that moment. Lily replied before pulling back once again to give her sister the full effect of her lovers safely. “That was half their powers with the fourth mark shared by all three as Julianna let them roll her as deep as they wanted to have her within — to their very cores that is. Moreover, their honeymoon is not over yet. Enjoy, big sister.”

Asher lifted Julianna a bit higher, allowing the tip of his head to brush against her hypersensitive hole. He smiled darker and deeper as she screamed from the sensation and Jean-Claude chuckled. They both knew there was no true pain in her body, but that sweet agony that came when true love mixed with lust.

Glancing at Jean-Claude, the need was clear on the other man’s face. Yet, he still shook his head in refusal — not allowing his body to feed the _ardeur_ from their wife for fear of losing her forever.

Feeling her younger husband’s body was growing so cold, Julianna looked up now and pleaded with her love, “ _Feed from me, Jean-Claude. Feed and feel full with our love for you._ ”

Her words stroked Jean-Claude’s need buried within for nearly as long as Asher had been gone from his side. God, he wanted to feed. Jean-Claude’s body ached with burning need. Asher kissed their husband and compromised as much as he was willing to go. “ _Taste our lovemaking as I mount Julianna, then feed from our bride fully afterwards to prevent painful feasting._ ”

“ _Taste us, Jean-Claude. Taste what is now and forever yours as well,_ ” Julianna begged again. “ _Taste what you will always be allowed to feed from._ ”

A pain filled scream tore out of Julianna’s throat as Asher grunted above her. While she pleaded with their husband, Asher had wetted himself in her still flowing juices to give himself lubrication. With Jean-Claude’s restrained hunger holding their wife distracted, Asher plunged into those heated depths only to feel resistance that forced him to press even harder against the tightness of Julianna’s core. It took all his self-control to remain still within the writhing Julianna.

“ _It hurts! It hurts!_ ” She wept in fear. This was not the pleasure she had expected to feel in this moment.

Jean-Claude instantly held his bride close and kissed her head. He watched the tension within Asher’s pale body. Their husband panted in short bursts with ice blue eyes shut tightly. Jean-Claude was certain that this was nearly too much for the man.

Before Julianna could attempt to pull away and off Asher’s hard length, Jean-Claude pulled her securely to himself. “ _Do not move, ma petite. Our Asher is trying not to ravish your body until your wounded center can accept him and the tearing of your maidenhead._ ”

“It was taken days ago!” Julianna complained as a shameful tear trailed down her face.

Jean-Claude muttered, using his vampire powers to sooth and stir the hungers of his new heart. “They only took a piece of your innocence, angel. Asher now has claimed what your clever body hid from that crone. Our bride –in spite of what has happened before– you came to us and our wedding bed a virgin still.”

Now Julianna’s tears turned into joy and peace. Her golden husband had claimed her in every manner a pure bride was by law. Both men tasted her joy and smiled in deep pleasure. This was how they wanted their wife to feel when in bed with them.

Anita recognized it as Julianna relaxed and grew to enjoy the feel of Asher buried so deep inside of her body. From experience, Anita knew the man bottomed out to the cervix of his first wife. Closing her eyes, Anita could remember how he had felt inside of her body this deep — pressing against her cervix and likely grinding his tip against the tiny opening in its center. She couldn’t help the smile the memories birthed on her lips.

Despite this being another woman’s memory, Anita found herself rolling into a deeper than normal orgasm with Julianna just from the pressure and grinding caused by Asher’s control. The bodies of both women shook and shuddered from the after effects. This Jean-Claude finally more than tasted.

His _ardeur_ had to be beyond famished from what Anita could feel as he drew from her as much as he did from his husband and wife. The man had likely been starving. As his _ardeur_ fed on, the women both fell into a new orgasm when they felt Jean-Claude satiate some of his anguished need. This made Anita smile. In a small way, even then and only in her mind, she helped her beloved Master before her birth. Okay, this was a memory and she was not really there, but who cared about logic and common sense in a situation like this?

Julianna smiled as she felt the energy that coated her skin seep away from her while it loosened from her body. Something new was happening and she wanted to feel this next experience in full. Then Asher slowly pulled his member out to its tip. Before a word could birth from her lips, the man thrust back into her body — Julianna’s need forcing him to push hard. Her newborn lust made her nearly as tight as Anita after a good orgasm.

“So tight, I have to fight your body _ma lutin_. I love how it feels.” Asher growled in hungered lust.

He was enjoying the young woman´s body’s combined struggle and need for the pleasure his body gave her. Julianna made the vampire come close to feel human again. His soul was determined to make her his first by way of flesh. Jean-Claude would take claim of their wife’s body by vampire power first in their honeymoon. Each male had the means of claiming their wife first at the same time.

The latter found Julianna forced him to keep his hold tight on her as Jean-Claude used his gift deeper and with no restraints for the first time in his existence. Jean-Claude knew this act was a double-edged sword. For as deep as he forced his power into their beloved bride, he would have her buried within him. Julianna’s younger husband wanted his wife buried into his very core and drilled that deep into her soul.

He did not even ask how far his beloved would allow him to penetrate her with his powers. Jean-Claude knew without having to form his unasked question. Julianna already had the unspoken answer ready in her mind. Both vampires she permitted to mark her as deep as they would have her. Already, Julianna was learning to use the gifts gained by their bonds.

Anita thought about how careful Jean-Claude was with her. Lily’s smile did not need to be seen as deeply as her elder sister felt the grin. “He fears losing you. Only you have settled in the same place Asher and Julianna have and always will sit in his soul … and Richard.”

“Richard? He would so not like that idea.” Anita snickered.

Lily nodded, “That is Jean-Claude’s fear. Not to mention it is one of the reasons he is not as eager now for you two to take the fourth mark with him.”

Suddenly, Anita’s eyes went wild. How could she have forgotten her son! “Is Harry…?”

“No,” Lily answered. “He is in my arms and safe, completely unaware of the lives you are watching. Now enjoy what you can but learn from the rest.”

After that Anita merged fully into the person of Julianna once again.

Jean-Claude smiled as he muttered into her ear. Julianna’s reactions with thrust and magic were beyond his expectations. He wondered how far their bonds would go with the final step.

While words surged with power, Asher closed his eyes in pure pleasure he had not known since his early days with Jean-Claude. Every thrust into his wife was a battle. Asher still had to hold his wife’s hips tight, but mostly to help his body claim hers. As Jean-Claude spoke with his gift, Asher too felt each word brush not only over his own body but he could feel the power within their wife. The feel of their husband’s full strength turned on Asher without restraint was unnerving and thrilling at the same time. For a time, all Asher could do was pull the sensation into his soul as he pleasured and was pleasured by both his true loves.

Finally, he forced his body to slow its rhythm. Too much more battling her tight interior would have brought the vampire to his completion. Asher wanted to bring his wife at least once more before he and Jean-Claude joined attacks as only the two of them were able.

Steadily, he rubbed a spot he now knew the existence of in his wife. Nothing more than a small bundle of nerves that could drive her into madness with pleasure if he wished. Slow, sure strokes over that place just inside of her body. His hands forced her to remain joined with his body as Julianna writhed and screamed from his assault on her senses combined with Jean-Claude’s beautiful voice.

Both men knew the woman was in no way forced and how much she wanted their first night to continue into eternity. They too craved dawn to forget its appointment with them all.

Julianna kicked and screamed at how amazing the bonds made their first night as husbands and wife. She wanted Asher to slam into her body as he had before. Damn, she had come so close to vanishing mentally into darkness again.

“MASTER!” she roared in pleasure as the orgasm struck her and made her fall hard into the oblivion she was learning to enjoy.

Asher continued to thrust as his new wife again blacked out from the intensity. Jean-Claude smiled at him. “She is enjoying herself deeply and well, _mon amour_.”

“As we both wished,” Asher replied. “When she recovers this time, we will claim her in full.”

Seeing Jean-Claude’s aching need, the blonde smirked. “She will not rest until she has known you biblically as well, _mon bien-aimée_.”

Panting breaths alerted the men to their wife’s return from bliss, as did her satisfied smile. “More, please.”

Both men grinned as they combined their final assaults. As Jean-Claude was expecting, he would always be lesser and second. At least he could say he belonged. Asher was not leaving him, but the other vampire was certain he did not equal either his eternal lover or the woman that had Asher’s heart.

His voice deepened with darker intent and no control in any word birthed from his lips. Asher plunged his manhood to the end of their wife. His soul loosened from his body at the same time as Jean-Claude’s slackened from his. The couple knew how to join as one in ecstasy and entered that partnership of lust and love eagerly.

Jean-Claude took Julianna once again into his arms and held the woman to his chest. He grinned at the change in her moans and screams with the change of Asher’s angle. Their wife was so easy to please, but still needed so much teaching at how to please her body along with either of them.

As a three-way kiss melted their boundaries further, the power swelled within and around all of them. Jean-Claude decided for his … their Asher he could teach Julianna how to make them both shake to their cores in pleasure.

Their wife shivered as her soul merged into their two souls while Jean-Claude broke the kiss to attack again with his voice. With a nod, all three felt as Asher sank his teeth back into Julianna’s neck empowered by his gift. Each lover felt as if their blonde husband fed from them individually. A sharp pain that dissolved into pleasures unlike any of the trio had ever known before.

With body, bite, and power the vampire took claim of his wife and husband that dared any to challenge his rights to the pair. Any semblance of control he ever held was dust as he thrust even harder with his every suck at her wound. This woman and man belonged only to him.

The beast within him escaped to mark his territory.

Julianna screamed until she could make no more sound as Asher plunged a final time to his personal release. His power rolled repeatedly over and through each of them. None wanted the shattering pleasure to end.

Every suck, every strangled word, and every thrust sent them into a place none had even dreamed existed. Quickly both men began to release their seed as it poured over and into Julianna without ceasing. Jean-Claude coated her belly repeatedly while Asher poured in and out of her in a near constant flow.

Needing only a thought, Asher traded positions without ending his mouth´s hold on their bride. Jean-Claude took command of her body with his manhood. Each thrust domineering and possessive, sex only as he had the act with Asher. Neither man had stopped in their orgasm over and within Julianna’s body.

She still cried out with no voice to use. This depth of copulation her mother never experienced and Julianna was grateful that the woman never would. She felt that promise from both husbands.

Without warning, Asher ceased feeding from his lover and bride — shattering the ethereal bond that had made them as one for longer than any might have dared guess in time. The men collapsed, lying on either side of their precious wife. Such was the last knowledge any of them knew until three hours before dawn. They slipped into sleep, a first in decades for the two vampires.

Julianna felt physically light as the darkness wrapped around her. Even if this was her death, she had enjoyed each moment. Her eyes fluttered closed. She had spent too much of her energy in their bonding.

Though neither of them needed to breathe, both of her husbands were silently panting. What they experienced was nothing as they had dared to imagine.

Both men curled close to her sleeping body to touch one another. Darkness was falling upon them. Jean-Claude eventually caught his breath. “Her heart still beats.”

Asher nodded. “She belongs to us in every way we could mark her.”

“As we belong to her,” Jean-Claude added. “You meant it … the idea of leaving Court forever.”

Smiling, Asher nodded again. “Now, more than ever, we need to divorce ourselves from them.”

Jean-Claude kissed their wife’s cheek. His eyes felt heavy. “We are Belle’s favorites. She will not be pleased.”

“No, she will not,” Asher admitted. “But our bride would never survive and our bonding would be seen as a threat. My family comes before the trappings of the Court.”

A shaky and weak hand touched Asher’s cheek. Jean-Claude was smiling in peaceful acceptance. “We love you even more for this.”

Pleased, Asher kissed his husband softly before smiling down on the tired face he had loved for many decades now. “Rest now. Julianna will not wake soon.”

“Please, rest as well, my husband and true love.” Jean-Claude whispered before his eyes shut.

Watching the two people who meant all to him sleep, Asher wondered how it would be to dream again. As his eyes shut, his mind and other senses searched to find no threats looming near his family. Content with the safety of night’s peaceful embrace, Asher allowed his mind to slip away.

His eyes opened not to the bedroom of their bride again. Rather, the three of them sat on the edge of her fountain — the one decorated by her pixie statue in the center of her family’s garden. They sat in the daylight on a warm but beautiful morning with a soft breeze blowing around them.

Julianna wore a loose nightdress while her husbands were also dressed more for bed than for sitting where anyone could walk upon their presence. Julianna thought about how deep her two husbands had fed on her body.

“Are we dead?” she asked innocently.

Jean-Claude answered as he withheld the sardonic thought in his mind. “ _Non, ma petite_. _The third mark, do you remember now?_ ”

Julianna thought dully as she could with the peace filling her body from this place. “ _Yes, I do. I just feel unlike any time in my life._ ”

“We all do, _ma lutin_.” Asher whispered with his voice dark as he gave admonishing eyes to their shared husband. “ _I wanted to make certain our dream is pleasant for all three of us. Here we are alone and in sunshine once again. So long I have hidden from the sun, I wasn’t sure I could bring the feelings out again._ ”

Their wife, in contrast, held hungered lust in her mischievous eyes and smiled. “Meaning we are alone in the garden in the middle of the morning. Whatever could I do to entertain you two handsome gentlemen?”

A blink passed in which Jean-Claude had her in his arms, spinning about in joy, laughing and shouting with glee about her newfound confidence. Asher smiled at the pair.

He was correct about the need Jean-Claude had ignored for too long and the young woman who had bonded the three of them as a family. Not only was the _ardeur_ driving the younger vampire wild, Jean-Claude was chilling in his core. This bonding gave them both a new stability and connection. Asher was sure neither of them would grow stale as the old ones normally did.

Yet, he had a grave feeling.

Jean-Claude tickling Julianna drew Asher out of his morose thoughts. He had a family and a reason to live as it were. Standing, he saw how beautiful his family was in this place — burning with devotion and love purer than any he had seen in his centuries of existence.

The two he had married as only vampires could glowed with their bonds in his eyes. As scared of the future Asher felt, he was proud of his little family. For the three of them had created what none other dared to dream.

Finally, Jean-Claude lay atop their wife and kissed Julianna gently. Asher smiled at how he could feel both sides of that sweet kiss as if they belonged to him at the same time. He stretched out on the ground next to his loved ones and enjoyed as the two pleasured one another.

While Julianna moaned and sighed, Jean-Claude ground himself into her lower body and enjoyed her reactions. Unable to hold back his needs, the younger vampire pushed all cloth up to join again with his wife physically in one full thrust.

In dreams, he was grateful there was no need to feed before claiming her body. Julianna had donated her blood more than enough this night.

Asher smiled as he caught the glimpse of his new husband’s naked thigh bathed in warm sunlight. Too long a time he had desired for Jean-Claude, even before Asher had left Court.

Months earlier, Belle Morte ordered the two out of one another’s beds. The two men could be near one another yet not have each other’s bodies as they craved. Not even able to share a deep lover’s kiss farewell before Asher left.

Asher rubbed his fingers up the back of that warm and flexing thigh only to smile as Jean-Claude moaned at the intimate touch renewed.

Love and trust the two had built up over years flooded their souls and poured into Julianna’s. Jean-Claude slowed his thrusts into their wife as he enjoyed the feel of Asher kissing his lower cheek for the first time in over a year. Just that feel of lips brushing skin stirred aches long denied.

Tears came to Jean-Claude’s eyes. Before Julianna could ask she knew his fear of banishment to protect her innocence and his guilty joy for wanting to feel that sweet touch returning.

The nightshirt Jean-Claude wore pushed up in Asher’s hands as the man’s lips brushed higher and all across his husband’s back. Julianna went wide-eyed as she felt the sensations on her back as well as how deeply relaxed the feelings made Jean-Claude. Then she felt it as Asher rubbed the tight hole in Jean-Claude’s bottom, pressing now and then.

Her younger husband groaned and gasped as he thrust unfocused with each rub and press. Now Julianna understood that Asher intended to have Jean-Claude while the latter took her body. The three of them all making love in two different manners, with all three lovers feeling the sensations of both, began to frighten her some. That in turn tightened Jean-Claude’s body.

Looking up into Jean-Claude’s face, Julianna found herself drowning in his beautiful dark blue eyes. Dark curls curtained her face until the world consisted only of them and the feeling of their husband giving his love to Jean-Claude. Sapphires filled with love and joy unlike anything she had ever known. More than that was a deep trust, need, and wonder.

Julianna was forcing herself to remember how to breathe from the expressions on his beautiful face and within his precious eyes. Slow thrusts warmed and loosened her tight body as her younger husband silently asked for permission to regain what another had stolen. Slowly, still unnerved by what she felt, their wife nodded to give them to one another.

Jean-Claude turned his head and relished the long and deep kiss Asher gave his new husband. Hands wandered while groans turned into throaty moans. As they kissed and touched, Julianna didn’t know how to feel.

She sensed their feelings for one another as if they belonged to her as well. Each man loved the other deeply as the two had grown to love her and more so. They wanted one another because of how each made their love feel not because they both were men. For Asher and Jean-Claude, it was the sense of belonging within the center of another’s world. Love in spite of the flesh and sex around that connection. This concept felt so new and foreign. Julianna had never heard good tales of two men as a couple.

Yet, these ideas were not that strange for Anita. She knew that both Asher and Jean-Claude were trying to help their new bride understand before they committed themselves to making love in front of her. Maybe she, Anita, taught them to fear being together, but Julianna was the woman who had planted that seed within the two men.

Though bereft of lips on her own, Julianna could feel the two men kissing her as they claimed one another’s mouth. At first, the brushes of lips on lips were soft and loving. However, they grew until the hungered devotions were devouring Julianna’s mind. She gasped between this and the continued assault of Jean-Claude’s body within her lower opening.

Without a thought, her hands rose to touch his stomach. Feeling the muscles working beneath his warm skin under her fingers made Julianna wonder as her hands lifted further. His chest heaved with pleasure and passion, rubbing against her hands as he thrust in and out of her body. Under all of this, she felt his heart pounding and wondered at how closely it merged to her own. Their lives merged and mingled as she felt through her younger husband what their shared love was doing.

Anita screamed as she first felt Asher penetrate her body’s back entrance, not in pain. Rather in a depth of pleasure she never knew existed as she writhed where he had previously lain. This was what she had begged for so long before, when she and Jean-Claude were marking Asher as their own to save their lover from Musette.

Now both women understood, too well, what these men had lost for too long.

Every thrust from Asher sent Jean-Claude deep into their Julianna. She pounded the ground with her fists from the extreme of her pleasure. Fire burned her veins as her heart roared in the rush to move her life force through her body. Jean-Claude took her legs with his arms until Julianna’s knees locked onto his shoulders. Asher clamped his hands just above her ankles to pull himself deeper and tighter into his lovers.

For him the pleasure was too much and not nearly enough all at once. Asher had almost forgotten how tight a lover his husband could be. Adding onto this was their timid wife, learning her now accepted sexuality in their marriage bed. He felt her once virgin cavity begging their husband for more. Their metaphysically combined sphincter was battling him with every drive. This was perfect. Asher loved the feel and challenge of his lovers.

Her orgasm hit her harder and unfathomable as the heated hungers stirred within her body. That was all either man could take. Both Jean-Claude and Asher roared in their pleasures as they both released within their loves. All three gave way to let their bodies rule themselves while their minds drifted into bliss.

An hour and a half before sunrise, they woke, still on the high their dream left them floating within. Jean-Claude tenderly bathed their wife, making sure to kiss her as often as his lips could find hers or any open patch of tender skin on her body. While he did, Asher bewitched some of the servants to help him fix the marriage bed with a new mattress, pillows, and bedclothes to hide the signs of their wife’s blood.

Near time for the sun to rise, the vampires rested their wife on her fresh bed and sheets then covered her with a blanket. Already her wounds had healed. So powerful was their triad love that Julianna’s body physically healed in moments.

She slept heavily while her husbands slipped into their secure room to die for the day. Again, they wrapped their minds within her dream – if not dreams now belonging to either vampire. Perhaps on high granted such a gift as celebration of the powerful marriage. Who could say?


	8. Rules of Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life for Julianna, Asher, and Jean-Claude after marriage is a rollercoaster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anita Blake and company are not mine. Neither is Harry Potter and associates. Trust me, I've checked my bank account. No use to sue me, this is just me borrowing them for a what-if crossover. I'll bring them back when I'm done. Eventually and probably better off.

The next two decades were filled with the full range of emotions for the triad family. Yet, within the good and bad none of them regretted their decision that night in what once was Julianna’s bedroom.

Good as their word, Jean-Claude and Asher avoided their own kind to keep their unique marriage a secret from the Council and especially Belle Morte. Their rejection of her had stung the vain vampire deeply in itself. To add on that Julianna captured Belle’s favorite blues by the simple act of being human cut even deeper. Were any to learn of the bonds holding their family together, neither vampire was willing to consider what could happen.

Their fears they held to themselves where their beloved Julianna could not detect them.

Near the end of their first decade of marriage, Julianna felt unwell for the first time since they had wed. She could not eat though never lost what little the vampires could encourage her to try. Their wife felt tired all of the time and she seemingly could not relieve her bladder enough.

While Jean-Claude had no idea what was happening, Asher had a suspicion. Though rare, such instances could happen. Besides, their bonds proved the world needed to update the definition of that particular word.

After waking to their wife moaning in bed uncomfortably for a third night Asher went to her and laid his ear onto her lower stomach. Here he was blessed with a sound that made his soul sing in joy. Buried within Julianna’s body and own beating pulse was a smaller one almost in sync with its mother. Either he or Jean-Claude had managed to give life into their wife.

“Asher, my love,” Julianna groaned.

That was until she caught an image within her mind. Her –tired and happy– looking down as her arms were holding a small, blanket wrapped thing.

Jean-Claude gasped before he too rested his ear gently over the same place on the belly of his wife. Within a breath, his ear picked up on the hidden sound as well — a soft lullaby to his mind that Jean-Claude simply could not do without.

All three were happier than ever. Their fourth gave them equal parts worry as well. As Julianna’s belly slowly swelled, they enjoyed dreaming about the child hidden within. Yet, the two vampires had to feed.

Every night, Jean-Claude would give his glowing wife a gentle kiss before leaving to hunt first. Asher held the stronger control, so he would remain to protect their beloved. Though this left each of the men vulnerable in the hunt, their wife and child were far more important.

Anita reclaimed her individual self enough to think back to her near miss pregnancy. Both vampires had been so happy at the thought that any man at all had her pregnant. As long as she allowed the pair to pretend a link, they could reclaim something of what they had with their lost wife.

Then the feeling of Lily came over her. “Are you so certain, big sister?”

“What else could their behavior mean?”

Lily smirked just out of sight. “They love you and your baby was as welcome as if it was their own.”

“Too bad it was just stress and my beasts.” Anita sighed. She remembered how they had tried to accept her joy at not being pregnant. They had been devastated while she hadn´t been able to be anything but happy.

Shaking her head, Anita wanted to throw something or hit her fist into a wall! “Look, I was thinking reality! We can’t take care of a kid in our lives! I mean just see how bad I have already screwed up with Harry! But my guys had to remember that they almost had another baby to love!”

What a nice lover she was.

“They understood, Anita. What was lost is why Jean-Claude went so far to make the underground a home for all of you. You agree the Circus is a different place now. Moreover, you are doing wonderful with Harry. You did all you could to protect our son as I did for him and Harry did for you – his new mommy.”

Anita blinked at the thought. “Harry protected me?”

Lily smiled and nodded. “Why do you think your loves are not able to pull our boy from you?”

“Because Harry will not let Mommie Dearest claim me?”

For Anita this was one of those ah-ha moments. “Harry loves me.”

“I carried our Harry for you to guide and guard him once I could not. But, why do you call yours a miss, near or otherwise?” Lily asked.

“Mine? What are you talking about, Lily?”

Her little sister’s smirk Anita felt. “What we three share.”

Anita’s mind stopped hard as she watched a swollen and achy Julianna dancing tightly … no, she was rocking side to side clinging to Jean-Claude. This memory was near the end of the pregnancy but they had a few weeks left to wait. In modern times, a baby would have a fighting chance. Why did that thought matter?

“You will see.”

Asher tore into the room more enraged than Anita ever remembered seeing the vampire in her life with him. “We need to leave, now!”

“What is wrong?” Julianna groaned.

“I saw hunters in the village and they seem to know about our family.”

First thought into Jean-Claude’s mind was the name all three pretended didn’t exist. “ _Belle Morte? Again? But how, we were so careful this time!_ ”

“ _Possible, but we cannot be certain,_ ” Asher admitted. “ _As for how, I did not remain long enough to learn that. The last time I looked back, their numbers were too close to our home for my liking._ ”

None of them wanted to risk staying to learn what set the hunters onto them. Jean-Claude, Asher, and Julianna ran with only moments to spare. The hunters arrived at their home only to see their quarry running.

Though the marks made Julianna stronger, she was far from invincible and very pregnant. Soon the family would need to hide for her body could not take the punishment of running for long. Unfortunately, soon did not come in time. All three felt the moment Julianna’s water broke.

She screamed and doubled over as a hard contraction hit. “No! God, please no! It’s too soon!”

Despite of her prayers and pleas, the baby slowly birthed in the open field they stopped in to rest. Julianna ached and wept as she screamed in the attempt to give life to her baby. Jean-Claude held her up while Asher looked at the place he had ravished so many times and in so many ways. Now all he could think of was how his child couldn’t come yet.

Wet and cream covered dark tendrils eventually emerged to fill the hole that one vampire or the other had placed the child within months before. As Asher understood, their baby was coming with a head of hair much like his or her mother’s if not Jean-Claude’s. Pink tears filled his eyes at how he wanted this baby even if Jean-Claude had impregnated their beautiful wife. This was a baby of all three of them in Asher’s eyes.

Liquid and blood too escaped from Julianna’s body. As if the fluids made a trail meant to show the baby which way to move towards life outside its mother.

“The baby has dark hair,” Asher reported shakily.

Jean-Claude tried to cling to the hope that their child would survive. “He or she will be as beautiful as you, our love. Let your body tell you what needs to happen.”

Asher watched as the head filled the hole and began pushing out the skin and flesh. Very like a tight shirt, the child’s head came out with a pop that caused Julianna to scream loudly. As his wife panted and wept from the combination of pain and fear, Asher got to know that scrunched up face. Birth did not appear to be a pleasant experience for mother or child.

With her every push, Julianna squeezed the child out a little more. One shoulder soon followed the first. Asher took the baby into his cool, undead hands so the child would not fall. In another two pushes, he held their newborn daughter.

All three parents cried as Asher set the child onto Julianna’s chest. The girl was warm and slippery, small and reddish, yet still looked so beautiful to the three of them.

Jean-Claude grazed his finger across their daughter’s cheek lovingly. “Our little angel.”

“She is,” Asher whispered.

Arms and legs moved weakly in the cool valley air. Julianna caught her breath and looked at the child she knew was not meant to be in their world for long. How could someone so precious and innocent be taken so quickly?

“We could name her Angelioletta. It means little angel.”

Both fathers nodded in agreement. Then all three whispered love to the baby, adoring their child for even the short time they had with the girl. While they spoke, the girl opened her mouth and tried to do so with her eyes. Yet, in less than half an hour, the child’s heart ceased to beat.

Never had their family hurt as deeply.

Asher cut away three of their daughter’s curls for them to keep as mementos before the two vampires buried child, cord, and placenta. The grave they cut deep into the ground to guard their child’s remains from animals.

Once they tucked their little girl for the only sleep they would lay her body down for, Asher covered their little child with his shirt. Jean-Claude added three blossoms from a nearby dogwood tree. Yet, his façade of strength gave way with this sole gift he could give their baby.

Jean-Claude lay by the grave and wished in part they had dug the pit for him eternally rather than their little girl. Though he tried to keep his sobs low to not upset their wife, Julianna felt his pain. Moments later, her body covered his and they both wept.

Anita was crushed. She now understood why her having the baby of even another man meant so much to her lovers. How cruel she had truly acted then.

“They understood and knew that your reasoning in parts was correct,” Lily said.

Shaking her head, Anita growled. “I could have staked them and it would have been nicer!”

“You are healing those pains even now.” Lily pointed out.

“HOW?” Anita roared in agony, still feeling the sensation of premature birth and the loss of the infant. The sensation of dying inside while wanting that baby to cry for an embrace or food rather than lying still in the hole cut in the earth.

Lily smiled out of sight again. “With our son – by not choosing only one father for our baby.”

Asher slowly and gently covered the baby with earth until the grave was covered. A few hours passed before the three of them left what was to be their first and only child.

***************

Years went by fast, but none of them forgot their child. Then the death toll on their marriage and Julianna’s life began to sound with the arrival of a note.

Jean-Claude had always missed his birth family, especially ~~so~~ after Asher helped to build the one he adored. As Julianna looked at the note a second time, she was not surprised that her husband wanted to leave.

It read:

**_Jean-Claude,_ **

**_You do not know me, but I have heard so many stories about you. I am Marie, the daughter of the younger sister you never got to meet, Lucia. My mother died birthing me, but my grandmother –your mother – raised me as her own._ **

**_I hope this letter finds you soon. For your mother is gravely ill and the doctor holds no hope for recovery. But now, in the face of death, Grandmother yearns to see you again. She hated your father for selling you as he did, though she knew you would have a better life than what our station in life could have given you._ **

**_Please come quickly, for I do not know if Grandmother will survive long enough to see you._ **

**_Your Sister’s Child,_ **

**_Marie_ **

“I don’t trust this.” Asher growled.

Jean-Claude’s throat tightened. He loved his husband deeply and trusted the man without fail. Yet, the ideas of what-if’s after what-if’s rolled through the younger vampire’s mind like waves against a shoreline. “But if she wants me back in spite of my status ….”

“And suppose this is all a trap?” Asher countered. “Would you risk us for a dream?”

“Master, you know we trust your judgment.” Julianna spoke softly as her eyes brushed across the words that gave their husband such hope and joy.

“How could we be found?” Asher demanded sharply, simply waving Julianna’s comment away.

Seeing their love take a step back in surprise and a little fear, Jean-Claude stood between his wife and husband. This was his desire, and he would take the cursing for his longing. “Do not strike out at our wife for my craving.”

Asher stepped around his husband to rip the letter from a frightened Julianna’s hands. Never had she seen her loves so angry at one another. The blonde glared at a frustrated and bitter raven haired husband, neither communicating and both convinced they were the only one who was right.

“How did this human find us?”

Unspoken was the charge of revelation and betrayal that ached all just in the thought without any speaking the words aloud. Jean-Claude sighed hard. He wanted this to be true. He wanted his human family to take him back.

“I cannot imagine.”

“Then why risk all of us?”

“Because there is a chance!” Jean-Claude roared.

As both men panted in agony, no one spoke. Neither man was willing to change his mind. Julianna felt broken inside. “Jean-Claude. We fear losing you in more than only to eternal death.”

Needing to break away from the accusations boiling within Asher’s heavenly blue eyes, Jean-Claude turned to take their wife into his arms. She was their bridge and too many a night their arbitrator. Burying his face into the crook of her neck, Jean-Claude ached to leave without disagreement – if only for that reason alone. Were dark forces to steal him while away from his loves, the young vampire did not want their final parting to be haunted with hate or words spoken in anger.

Like on many a night, breathing in her scent made him calm without a thought. How Jean-Claude loved this woman.

Julianna smiled as she embraced him. “I love you more. We just need to keep you safe. All three of us should go.”

“No.” This both vampires agreed on.

“Why not?”

Asher said what ate at his heart, “Were we right and this is a trap? Who would save us?”

“And what if Jean-Claude’s family truly wants us there?”

“I will not risk my family on a hope and a letter we can’t explain!” Asher snapped as tears slid down his face.

Yes, he wanted this for his husband but he feared more than the dangers. “And what if you decide to remain?”

Jean-Claude’s expression went from frustration to confusion. “What do you mean?”

“They were your family first. Were they to treat you as you have always hoped and dreamed? Then why would you return to me … us?”

Hence stood the heart of Asher’s fear –— Jean-Claude would abandon him for the bonds of physical birth. Jean-Claude went to his husband and curled himself around the hurting vampire before kissing his husband deeply. Lips, tongues, teeth all worked together with one set begging for understanding and for the other to remain. Their hungered and desperate kiss grew hotter and near moved into lovemaking. Here Jean-Claude broke their nuzzling for light grazes of lips over the whole of Asher’s beautiful face.

“I would only remain with them if my family here in this room is equal to me.” Jean-Claude vowed as he and Asher’s faces rubbed against one another’s here and there.

Slowly, Asher understood he would not win this fight.

Anita had never heard of this event in full. “What became of Marie? Was she really his family?”

She felt Lily nod. “She was, and truly loved her uncle in spite of his existence as undead. Her grandfather was not as kind, but he blamed himself for selling his boy away in the first place. That blame the man’s wife shared, who died never telling her son how much she loved him.

“She always taught her children tolerance and acceptance to those who are kind in return. This Marie continued with her children and grandchildren. Generation after generation knew from cradle to grave that they were to only attack those who would do harm by intent. And they all knew the story of when her uncle came to tell his mother goodbye.” “What happened?” Anita asked.

“Jean-Claude did not make it to his mother’s side in time. Yet, he was accepted by his remaining family. The behavior amazed Jean-Claude. He promised to return with his own family, but you know he did not get that chance.”

“He returned to his family destroyed.” Anita remembered and felt her mind slip back into Julianna’s.

The final toll of death was a knocking on the door a week after Jean-Claude left.

Julianna was not truly as fearful as she should have been as she opened the door to see the woman she had been talking with for weeks. “Ava! You shouldn’t have come until I could tell them.”

“I thought you had by now,” the woman said innocently.

Julianna shook her head. “I couldn’t. A note sent Jean-Claude on a long journey.”

Though she loved her life and family, the days would drag on without end sometimes for Julianna. While the sun ruled the sky, she suffered with loneliness.

She understood why, but her heart ached for someone to talk to while her husbands slept in as close to death as any vampire might gain and still rise again.

When a new woman looking for companionship as well invited Julianna to a meal she only wished to be helpful at first. Then they often met on the road. Over months, they became friendly.

Yet, the triad had one law in their house held more sacred than any other—none told outsiders the truth of them. Julianna hated dodging her new friend’s questions about her husband and home. Especially with how hurt Ava looked when the blonde evaded answering repeatedly.

Ava finally demanded the same level of trust or she would no longer join Julianna for their midday meal meetings. Desperate, Julianna begged to get through the meal to find a more private place to talk.

Her heart broke as she revealed without asking only that she had bonded to one vampire as husband and wife the way their kind do such things. Jean-Claude she didn’t mention until much later. Daily she deceived her husbands and broke their rules.

Now she stood as guard of their door, confused that Ava found their home. That Julianna held back no matter what. “How did you find my home?”

Ava smiled. “Which coffin belongs to your Master?”

“Why?” Julianna disliked this unexpected visit and the questions. This was not the young woman she had come to trust.

“We want the right one, whore.” Growled a voice Julianna knew and hated.

Padre Cecilio suddenly stood behind Ava, who appeared proud of herself. Their single most important rule was true and Julianna had broken it for companionship from the wrong woman.

Julianna tried to shut the door, but Cecilio shoved hard enough to send the frightened Julianna across the room. Then he nodded to Ava. “Well done, Sister.”

Little once waved off alarms came together. Dressed differently and her hair showing, Ava had managed to keep the truth from the eyes of her prey.

Chuckling, Ava smiled at the horror in Julianna’s eyes.  “Yes, I helped to hold you as we looked for your manifold sins, fallen harlot.”

The humans and their fanatic leader captured Julianna and Asher without hope of escape. Jean-Claude would never know what became of them. Julianna’s heart broke as tears bathed her face. Why had she not followed the rule?


	9. Flames of Rebirth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julianna is lost, but too stubborn to let go of those she loves so much. Not to mention someone is her mother made over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anita Blake, Harry Potter, along with their respective universes are not mine. I am borrowing them for a combination story series, thus will return them once finished to their respective owners. Possibly in better condition. Shhh, don't let them know.

Julianna grieved as the sun set that evening. She had betrayed those who meant everything to her, and now both she and Asher would pay the terrible price for her crimes against them. No one told her what became of her Master. The group of fanatics excitedly drew her up to stand upon a great pile of wood that surrounded a great stick in its center. In terror, Julianna understood what she stood upon and tried to flee.

Yet the men pulling her were too strong and determined to end her life. If this was the fate they chose for her, then what had they done to Asher? Julianna had not felt his demise before with the sun that at last crept beneath the far horizon to birth the dark of night.

Padre Cecilio went on and on to the crowd about her sins with the demons Julianna gave herself to in all means. During this, the men ripped her arms high over her head and lashed her wrists together so she could not run for freedom. The lies and jeers eventually got to her as she felt her disorientated and angered Master awaken. Asher needed her, now. Their anger at the situation and fear for one another merged into one emotion they both bore – rage. Not what a person would call unusual after all the years the two had held metaphysical marriage bonds to one another.

“You were the sinner, lusting after a small child in the house of the Lord for years! Rubbing yourself on a girl and making her beg God to forgive what were your sins!” Julianna roared.

“See! She is still attempting to bewitch even as she stands in the fate I tried to save her from since her youth!” Cecilio snapped.

Despite her fears and grief, Julianna would not hold back! “You wanted me here because I refused to give you my body!”

The crowd did nothing to come to her aid. The false priest seemingly had them all brainwashed to his views alone as most humans were in her age. Truth did not rule, fear and blind faith in the Church alone held power. Otherwise, those who did not agree feared the man too much to protect her from Cecilio’s evil.

Cecilio took a torch just as Julianna wailed. The first drips of Holy Water were rolling down Asher’s skin, causing both lovers the agony of acid marking their skin. The couple was mentally begging Jean-Claude to return, knowing it was unlikely for him to hear them due to the miles holding the three of them apart and the shields the pair was using to safeguard him. As low as Cecilio acted to claim his two victims, the couple held no illusions that physics were not in the employ of the false priest.

“See how she weeps with the demon’s pain? The whore is polluted with the creature’s blood! She is damned by God!”

In a moment of clarity, Julianna roared. “I was saved by my husbands from the fate of living as your bed servant! God gave me that blessing through my husbands! Now, may God damn you to the darkness you fear, for every sin you forced a confession from my lips for, though the deed belonged to you!”

Within the space of a blink, a chill exploded within Julianna that left the young woman weaker. Her body limply hung heavily against the ropes that bound her wrists together as she struggled to breathe in the frozen night air. She felt none of Asher’s agony anymore nor could she feel that sense of his presence within her soul. The loss of her golden husband left Julianna suddenly so cold. Alone on the pyre, her soul felt abruptly empty.

The worse thoughts haunted her. The dark sin she had committed against her husbands had taken one from existence. Her Master cut his links to her, preserving her life. An act Julianna knew that Asher would only do if he expected to die.

Julianna wailed louder still. Her Master, her friend, her lover, her husband … he was gone! Asher died a horrible death because of her choices. She killed her dearest love! Her heart prayed that God would bless the man she lost so that he might find his way out of the dark and on the path to Heaven to wait for her there.

Her shoulders and arms ached for release. Soon she would feel no more pain in this world. Julianna really did believe that God had blessed her and her husbands. If not they would have never conceived. They treated her outside of their marriage bed as their Christ expected the so-called Christians. As for their marriage bed, such was between them and God. Yet, she remained silent because Julianna knew that none would believe their truth.

The thoughts of her dead daughter both hurt and gave a precious measure of joy to the condemned woman. Now her Asher was likely holding their lost daughter close to his now beating heart. There in Heaven, Julianna knew the light would not cause her lost husband pain. Soon she would be with the two of them. Hiding in her sorrow, Julianna began to pray that her raven husband would not arrive until the danger had passed.

Just in this moment, a cool touch filled her soul to charge her body again. Not Asher, for he was dead in every way. Jean-Claude! He had to be nearly home!

She had nearly forgotten his stubborn nature. She had tried to block her raven-haired husband so hard, but he was anxious for contact. Why could he not stay away just a little while longer? Soon, man’s evil pride and boasts would free Jean-Claude of her. He would be safe. Julianna focused harder. She had cost them Asher and like hell she would kill Jean-Claude as well! But her mind felt his sadness … he thought she and Asher were rejecting him.

What would become of Jean-Claude if she did not survive? Julianna felt terrified her only existing husband could easily return to the Court both he and Asher fled from when they bonded with her. Remembering the long ago talk about the Court and the family both vampires needed to feel more real, Julianna knew that Jean-Claude was in danger of losing himself for good this time. She knew that she had to live, if only for her remaining husband.

Changing her strategy, Julianna shut her eyes as she dropped her shields before she began to cry out with her heart and mind. “Jean-Claude! Jean-Claude! Help me! I need you now more than ever!”

No response. Close enough to be felt but their communication was still too far apart. Julianna drew close to the idea of giving up as her executioner crowed and stirred the crowd’s frenzied cries for her death and damnation. No longer could Julianna feel her arms. The husband both she and Jean-Claude loved now existed with their beloved daughter and soon she would too.

Thick smoke in her nostrils alerted Julianna to her fate and snapped her eyes opened. The wood was lit ablaze like the burning hate and madness within the eyes of the crowing Cecilio. Julianna never ceased calling out with her mind as breathing became harder.

Too soon, the area where she stood heated as flames at the lower parts of the pyre ate deeper into the pile. All around the young woman were tall flames and frenzied maniacs quoting scripture and cheering her demise. Nowhere could she find escape on her own. Fear and panic gripped Julianna’s heart.

She wanted to avenge her elder husband’s death. She wanted to stay alive so Jean-Claude would still have something of their family left to hold him centered and grounded. Again she cried out with her heart and mind. “Jean-Claude, hurry! I need you! Help me!”

The air heated and Julianna felt the skin on her feet and back starting to blister. As she screamed in agony, she cried out with her voice as well, “Jean-Claude!”

A flame leapt from the fire just as Julianna was inhaling to scream more. That was her ending. Her sinuses, mouth, tongue, and throat scorched as the fire followed the air she inhaled down into her soft and moist lungs. Fluids boiled and flesh blistered. Breathing was impossible. Within moments, Julianna’s body expired.

Suddenly cool, she took another breath. Julianna felt her arms release from the pole the beastly humans had her tied to with no pain or numbness left. Looking down at herself, in spite of the flame licking up her, her body was healed. She almost turned around, until a voice she could never forget called out to her. “No, come down here!”

Giggling, Julianna looked to see her lost brother, Gabriel, smiling up at her. “Brother!”

Could this truly be? After so many years apart, her brother was the young man she had occasionally imagined he might have grown into had fate allowed Gabriel to live. Julianna wondered if she had gone mad or was only dreaming. How could her elder brother be alive? She had seen them place his cold body in the casket and bury the wood box in the ground. Was he a vampire or an illusion her traumatized mind created?

Running, she seemed to take few steps before Julianna felt the embrace of her dead brother for the first time since she was only a child. “I have missed you so much!”

“Little pixie child,” Gabriel cooed and held her as he did in life. “I have watched over you and held you in your pain, sorrow, and grief. But hurry, we have a trip we must make now.”

Julianna looked around anxiously and saw Jean-Claude on a roof looking down on them, sobbing. He had finally made his way to her. She waved her one hand franticly to grab his attentions, “Jean-Claude!”

“He can no longer hear you, my sister. You are with me.”

A tingling dread filled her heart … Julianna slowly understood what her brother was saying. This was not right! Jean-Claude needed his family. He would lose his soul without one of them! When the fire popped and crumbled, her heart broke. Her choice destroyed all they once held.

Still sobbing, but showing all the signs of rage untamed filling his mind, body, and soul, Jean-Claude stormed off. Julianna didn’t need to ask. She knew her love was hoping to save their husband. Julianna turned to look around as she felt a pulling.

 “Asher is with us too?” she whimpered. “Where is my golden husband? Where is our baby girl?”

“No,” Gabriel answered softly. “Asher still exists in his cursed state.”

“I felt him perish,” Julianna argued.

“Your cries along with the thought of you in pain with him were too much for your elder husband to bear. He cut off the marks to spare you his agony. Yet, Asher still exists in that world.”

Julianna wanted to go to them. Then the woodpile collapsed behind her. Gabriel held his sister close.

“They are beyond you for now.”

“No,” Julianna growled as she tried to twist her way out of his embrace. “They need me!”

Gabriel shook his head in sympathy. “They mean that much to you? You would live again rather than stay home?”

She knew her brother spoke of Heaven. “I love them that dearly. Are they and I so damned from Our Father?”

The answer came from the shaking of Gabriel’s head. “No, but in the mortal world a curse unconnected to the true God bars them from the touch of His Light. The curse of Darkness itself.”

Julianna watched as Jean-Claude carried Asher’s limp body away. How long had she argued with Gabriel? Asher looked more hurt than she had imagined. What had she done to him … to the two of them? She felt their combined pain as she had when bonded to the pair in life. “How do I return to them?”

“The path is hard and not likely to return your loves to you the first time,” Gabriel warned.

Stubborn as he remembered her in childhood, Julianna glared at the spirit that once was her brother. “I did not ask if the path was easy. How do I do it?”

Gabriel led his sister home and took her to the Hall of Holy Council. The tall building was the nearest to the shore Gabriel had led Julianna from and for a reason. The young woman knew this was the last step before the Council permitted a rebirth. Her mind was slowly remembering home and being born. Justifying ones’ choices, editing seemingly forever to gain the Council´s approval, and worse of all, the waiting. This time she did not care about that. To hell with the process, she had two husbands who needed her back.

Here, Gabriel walked a step in front of her.            

Columns topped by decorative spans marked the edges of the outer courtyard. This was paved with large white and gold marble tiles similar to the stone of its illusory walls and main building.

Julianna was not that surprised that the initial space they walked through seemed filled with people who all felt familiar to her. One who felt intense as if she recently knew him came to them. “Still stubborn as always, Kariel? They won’t let you go back yet.”

Kariel? Julianna knew he meant her, but why did her use that unusual name for her? “I will be heard.”

The known stranger smiled at her attitude. “You will never change. But how far will you go to have what you want?”

“As far as I must,” Julianna vowed.

He sighed and nodded. “I will see you soon then, I believe. In my heart forever, as always.”

After a bow, he walked away to rejoin the others he was talking with earlier. Julianna brushed this off to continue with her brother. The interior building was faced with columns as well, this time topped with a triangular piece decorated with people and animals. Behind this, on the main building, was a dome. Three columns back, the inner building grew out of either side.

Gabriel led Julianna into the doors and to the left. After a few hallways and turns, they came to a room with no door. Within the room were seven people sitting at a long wooden table.

The woman in the center left chair waved at them dismissively, as soon as they entered. “She has not processed her life yet.”

“Julianna is as stubborn as always.”

The man to the woman’s right shook his head. “Such does not alter the rules, Shanriel. The girl must follow the process in order for her to learn what she did right, wrong, and did not do at all. Take her to the beginning.”

Julianna was frustrated, no matter how right her core knew they were. There were two this last time that needed her now. “No! Jean-Claude and Asher ….”

“The beginning, young one, or you will not return to them at all,” The man in the middle of the seven threatened. Unfortunately, rules were not broken here.

Gabriel grabbed her arm and shook his head. Julianna was pained at how unfair the course was. He near dragged her from the room. “I told you the path would not be easy. Since you do not care, you can do the matter properly.”

“Then why take me to them at all?” Julianna snapped. She tried to cry, but her eyes would not water. Even in the peace and joy, she felt horrible. How could she enjoy this place without the two men who meant so much to her?

A child giggled and ran over to Julianna as they exited the building. “Mommy!”

Julianna’s heart squeezed. Could the girl really be? “Angioletta?”

The girl beamed and nodded. “I’ve been waiting! Can we go play?”

“Sorry, precious,” Gabriel interrupted. “Your last mother needs to begin the rebirth process.”

“May I come too?”

Rather than allowing Gabriel to answer, Julianna took her lost child into her arms and smiled. The dark blue eyes and dark hair of Jean-Claude with her smile created a sight of rare beauty. Yet, Julianna knew Asher would have claimed the girl as his own just as much as her birth father would have.

Gabriel smiled and nodded in agreement. He knew the child could help his once sister recover and heal.

First, he took the pair to the Serenity Buildings. Never had Julianna seen such tall buildings. For Anita, the two looked like tan apartment buildings not far removed from the place she lived in back when she was alone and she was far more human. Back before Jean-Claude made her the champion for the preternatural world and his saving grace should he ever go as mad as the former Master of the City of St. Louis, Nikolaos.

How that felt like multiple lifetimes gone by since her apartment with only Sigmund the stuffed penguin to keep her nightmares at bay.

Gabriel hugged the pair. “You’ll know when you are ready for the next step. One day we will be together again. And I will need you instead of you needing me.”

That was all he said before leaving the pair alone. Angioletta squirmed to the ground before taking her mother’s hand. “This way Mommy! I know the best room!”

Her daughter was right. The two rooms were wonderful and cool–such a comfort after the fire that had consumed her. Walls of soft green and a ceiling of soft blue combined to color the flooring. One room had a bed for sleeping and resting. The other room was for sitting and visiting.

Julianna lay here with her child as the elder rested and recovered from losing her life, loves, and the horrible end. Though there was no time to speak of, at first Julianna wondered of this … what her still existing husbands were doing. What had become of those vampires she loved so much?

With no night, Julianna did not know how long she remained, but she eventually wanted to go outside. No longer did she need the rooms.

Mother and daughter next went to the Hall of Records. This building was the second step and most important of all. Angioletta ran off to play.

The building was golden in the light and highlighted with the same columns many of the buildings shared. Rounded and thin in the front, the sides grew outwards as if a piece of pie. This building seemed the tallest in the process. Yet, given this was where the past and current were stored (as well as the future for a few special cases), such was expected.

Here, not only was Julianna reviewing her life with a counselor, so too was Anita with Lily. For the woman living this life and death to rebirth, the idea of being in Heaven was beyond phenomenal. But, that Julianna had made her way here without damnation was shocking to the one vampires called the Executioner and War, as in the Apocalypse Horseman.

“The fourth mark will not damn me?”

Lily smiled as she sorted scrolls, books, and other papers. “No, but you never did pray about that either.”

“I didn’t,” Anita found herself forced into agreeing.

Over by the stacks, a face she knew smiled and waved. Numb from shock, Anita waved back. Lily looked annoyed. “Why can’t some souls listen?”

“I don’t know,” he answered as he came to their table within the blink of Anita’s eyes. “You’ll have to look yourself up sometime to find out.”

Tears filled Anita’s eyes. It could not be! “I’m sorry … I’m so sorry!”

His big brown eyes glittered and smiled. She couldn’t see any scars on him. Yet, Anita knew this man’s face too well to forget. Phillip, once of the many scars, smiled at her—clean of the marks he had received and accepted over his few years on Earth.

“That was on my flesh body. Not here though. Thanks for visiting my grave. I know the place helps you. But I can hear your thoughts about me anytime and anywhere.”

This last had Anita blushing and he knew why. “One of the reasons I was not meant to survive. I wouldn’t take Nathaniel’s place beside you for the world.”

“I promised you I would get you out of it alive,” Anita choked, but just couldn’t get her tears to come.

Phillip smirked before he kissed her cheek. “And now you know not to make promises you are not certain you can keep.”

Someone … there was someone that Jean-Claude would ask about next after Phillip.

“Robert was reborn already,” Phillip answered. “But you will see him and me again.”

Looking up and grinning, he glanced back and gave Anita a hug. “Time for my turn to be born. I know you are going to be a wonderful mother. Just, let Harry be his own man while giving him freedoms and boundaries. Oh, and teach him how to protect himself and others. That is his job in the world this life, just like his Me-Ma.”

Nodding, Anita hugged Phillip tight. “I won’t say goodbye. That means never seeing one another again … and you’ve promised.”

“Then we say until next time. When we meet again, I won’t know why, but I will say first thing: Just like I promised. Then I’ll ask you why that was important.”

That made Anita laugh just because not only was it so like Phillip but it also would stick with her. Her mind wondered about the possibilities until she blinked to find the man was gone. The various documents and books that Lily had gathered and correlated were gone and Julianna was standing up.

“What?”

Lily chuckled. “No such thing as time here. You will remember what we have discussed only when you need the information.”

Anita finally got the courage to ask two questions. “Sissy, why would taking the fourth mark not damn me?”

“Because, silly,” Lily answered but nothing more.

Slowly Anita grasped the truth, “You already answered that question for me.”

“And …,” Lily prompted by elongating the word.

“I’m not ready to remember the answer.”

Giving one sharp nod, Lily took Anita’s hand to lead her sister back outside to follow Julianna. The child did not return to her mother­–odd. Remembering her own almost baby miss, Anita wondered. When the Vampire Dance troupe that Jean-Claude had been sponsoring on a tour came to St. Louis and she nearly changed for the however many time … had she…?

Anita sighed before she painfully asked the question some of her didn’t want answered, “Did I really have just a strange chemical reaction to the home pregnancy test?”

Lily answered with a short but soft, “No.”

Giggles wrapped around Anita that made her want to cry. There was no need to ask. The Executioner knew the sound was her lost baby.

Lily winked, “Who once was Julianna’s baby too.”

“Angioletta?”

“Mommy! Wanna go play with me?” was all the warning Anita had before a gorgeous baby with lavender eyes latched onto her left leg. God, the baby had been Nathaniel’s child and had his beautiful eyes!

Her change confused Anita. “You had dark blue eyes before and they were different in shape too.”

“I had a different daddy last time, Mommy. Now can we go play?”

Chuckling Lily bent down to talk to the girl, “No time this visit, baby. Or do you not want to be born?”

“Only if this will be my Mommy!” Angioletta demanded before clutching tighter to the leg she never wanted to let go of again.

Anita laughed, the girl was her made over! “Why me?”

“I always want to be your baby, Mommy.” Such seemed all the answer Anita would likely receive.

Nodding, Lily sighed – bringing them back to the meadow and Harry, with Angioletta in tow. Anita laughed. “Came to meet your brother?”

“And I want to be with you, Mommy!” the girl complained. One life’s worth of this, highlighted by the terrible twos and the teenage years. Part of the Executioner wanted to shutter with fear. Nevertheless, just as suddenly, Anita wanted that as she pulled her little girl into her arms and hugged the child with all she had.

Ready to live her life so she could give the child life, Anita wanted to face everything and anything to become a mother now. She had another life to witness now, but only the length Julianna took the body as her own. At least, that had been the original plan.


	10. Power of Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anita acts to protect those she loves, but at a great cost and even greater rewards. A secret comes forward none dared speculate as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Anita, Harry or their universes. Look at my bank account to prove that. All I am doing is borrowing them for the purpose of playing a friendly game of what-if. They'll be back and probably in better shape than before.

As my mind began to slip into the stream of memory to go into what had been Ligeia’s life, a bright flash of light hit me. This force knocked me backwards and ripped a scream from my throat as the light flushed painfully through my body.

“Me-ma! Me-ma!”

Harry wailing for me told me I was back in the meadow, but I couldn’t feel the comfort of the place. I hurt too much. My head was exploding with agony that the light of the meadow only made the pain worse despite my eyes clenched shut. I was panting in the hopes I wouldn’t start throwing up, that would make my pain even worse. Lying on the cool blanket, I prayed my stomach would behave and the pain soon would leave me alone. What kind of mother was I? Harry was hurt somehow and I couldn’t so much as move to protect or take care of my little boy! Had Mommy Dark gotten in? Was she stealing Harry or even me?

When a gentle hand brushed against my forehead like a bird’s wing, the earth shattering migraine faded from my mind enough that opening my eyes didn’t feel life or stomach threatening. The wall of grass and I guessed bamboo or something like it had spread to encircle our meadow to only an arm’s length away from the blanket. My baby boy climbed on my chest and drove off more of the agony. He was not hurt it seemed, only scared because I was hurting. In my arms, Harry calmed down.

Lily’s voice was strained and low. “Now you understand why viewing memories of other lives while being physically alive yourself is so dangerous? Living in them can cost you your current life. As too can breaking away from them as they begin.”

Her words woke a detail in my mind, but that couldn’t be so. “Other people’s lives you mean. I didn’t mean to break away.”

“You did not break the reading of Ligeia’s life–that was God’s doing because of the change in the situation. You were watching and I hope learning from other women’s lives only in a manner of speaking,” Lily admitted. “The two were different lives of the same soul. That is why Harry was protected while you went back over the two you were able to touch.”

“So, Julianna and Ligeia shared the same soul. Then why was I allowed to watch them?”

My mind gave me the answer even as Lily responded with her green eyes. This could not be real!

“You can only look at the lives that your soul has experienced while you live on Earth, Anita. Until you come home in full you are not reconnected enough to touch the lives of others and so learn from their lives.”

I shook my head. “But, you saw my lives!”

“Only what you needed me to see. You are living and so what has happened in your lives is not my business unless you want me to see. You showed me what you did not understand instinctively while I protected Harry from all of your memories. Got to love mind talk.”

This was impossible … I didn’t want to buy all of this. “You are trying to say that in my past lives I was both Julianna and Ligeia?”

The concussion of an impact to the wall next to me captured our attention. The sound and feel scared Harry. My girls were on full alert and growling at that area of tall grass and definitely bamboo. Even Lily seemed more on edge because of the interruption.

Her muscles were tense in an aggressive posture. If Lily had had a gun on her I was certain that she would have had her weapon in hand with Harry clenched in her free arm. On my little sister’s face birthed the dirty smirk I have felt on mine more than once in my current life.

“We are peas in a pod, big sister. Though, my choice of weapon would be my wand. I know certain spells that would outdo your guns and then some.”

All the internal searching had left my brain slow on the uptake. Eventually, I understood what was happening. “This is the reason that stopping me from living through Ligeia’s life was important enough to make me hurt so badly? You knew I had to come back?”

Lily shook her head. “God actually re-awoke the memories into your soul, body, and mind in a flash so you could become ready sooner. Only you can stop what is happening and there is not enough time to lead you through that too short life in less danger.”

The hit of another pulse against the wall interrupted us. This time the impact shifted the plants to where I could see them move. Whatever was attacking outside wanted in badly.

Looking at Lily, I knew the problem needed my action rather than hers. But I needed information.

Without fail, Lily noticed my need again. “It is Marmee Noir. She is attacking in two campaigns: doing her best to come in here while she is poisoning those you love most.”

“How is it her? I remember destroying her.” Why had I forgotten to question that in itself? We had absorbed her almost a year ago.

“You only took away a piece of herself. There are six more to face, big sister. As she poisons your loves, you forget memories of them. Already you have forgotten Ethan who went home with you after your first victory against her without your shields fully. He was the last to bond to you and so he is the easiest to remove from your mind for her.”

My sweeties … that bitch was going for the men in my life! “She is assuming that in here are only Harry and me. That I would only focus on protecting Harry. She has no idea about your being with us, right Lily?”

“Exactly.”

I made my choice. “Harry will be safe here?”

When Lily gave me a strong and confident smile, I knew I was on the right track. “Within you? Always.”

Ignoring the hint as to how we could meet and touch, I got into hunter mode fast. Hugging my little boy tight for a moment, I made Harry look up at me. “I need you to protect your ma-ma, Harry. Be good and I will be back as soon as I can.”

Bits and pieces of information seemingly existed as if waiting for me to look for answers. Thinking this caused Lily to smile brightly. Somehow, I was starting to understand at least. Lily still had a point to make.

“Very much like the fourth mark all over again. Only this time welcomed rather than forced.”

A blink later and I found myself floating in the darkness once more. Okay, I wanted to leave the meadow without Harry and that was what happened. Maybe this was not just in my mind. I was really starting to hate metaphysics. Just where and what kind of hell was I in now? Where in any sense could the Mother of All Darkness attack me without possessing another’s body?

St. Michael, within the avatar of the same name, by now had called in no less than two armies of angels to join the fight. Even from the distance I stood … or hovered, whatever. From my distance I could see that here she was stronger and a handful for the angel armies. Uphill battles, my usual call in out in the mortal realm too, glad to see my reputation preceded me here.

Eventually, I drew close enough to the lead general himself before calling out, “What’s happening?”

“The Darkness is turning yours against you by filling their hearts with her essence so your soul and mind will reject them.”

Okay, this half I knew already. “But how is she doing that?”

“By pouring herself into thy ties to their hearts and souls.” That had to be more archangel than avatar. Meaning the battle likely had gone on too long and likely was going downhill.

As long as Harry was safe, I didn’t care what happened to me. I would make sure that my sweeties were just as safe as our son was. No matter what I had to do in order to protect and save them.

“Can we stop and undo what she has done to mine?”

With a nod, Michael grunted out, “Only thee may decide. Shall I cut thy tie and allow the Father’s might to bless those bound to thou now? Or will thou give the false night that which it craves?”

I decided that later I could work on the wording. Hopefully, my sweeties would one day understand my decision was the only choice. “They I love I wish to be free from everything not of them, including me.”

The combination of my words and true desire were all that the archangel in charge needed. Lifting his flaming sword above his head so the tip pointed to what I expected to be the sky, I couldn’t help thinking how Voltron this attack was becoming. The 80s called demanding payment for the residual rights to my thoughts of course “With the agreement of above and below, so shall my sword procure!”

Heated daggers I couldn’t see drove into my metaphysical body to the hilt before twisting repeatedly. Cry after cry sounded in my head as Michael severed each link.

Jean-Claude woke grabbing his head in shock and dismay. I couldn’t help but wonder why him first. Without his presence in me, I felt more cold and alone than the last two times I had lost Jean-Claude. Yet, in that last second of our connection, I could see that the Vampire Master of the City of St. Louis truly loved me and always had. I truly was his first and only challenge in centuries to become one of his deepest loves.

Asher too woke at the actions of Michael. My blonde lover was trying to comfort our love only to cry out next when his connection ended. I had suspected the man’s true love for me, but never did I imagine his feelings could run so deep. Only my past life equaled me now.

Damian was alone, lying in his coffin. Not even Cardinal’s body for company. He woke in agony and grief. My vampire servant truly loved me even before our bond had become sure.

To my surprise, Requiem cried out in my mind next. He was in Philadelphia, lover and second in command to its Mistress of the City. At the cut of our bond I certainly didn’t know still existed, I could feel him weeping. I truly was his Star and Lady. My poet had loved me without reservations. This information I wasn’t sure how to process.

None of my vampires died after our bonds broke, of that I was reasonably certain. When I passed out it was morning in our world. How could none of them just die without their links to me? They all were in their deaths until the links began to sever. How did they remain alive after we were torn apart so fully? Not even Jean-Claude had that level of power in his body, so how had all of my sweeties defeat death without the boost we would normally give one another?

Michael answered this, “By the Power on High, Day Mother who rules over the Guardian of Man on Earth.”

Before I could ask or even think more questions, pain tore away my concentration. Micah, my Nimir-Raj!

I felt it as his body hit the floor beside my physical body, meaning that I certainly was not in my body in this moment and not in Heaven. Which of us hurt more by the cut, I couldn’t tell. He wanted me back at any cost. For the first time, I knew that our love was not only due to the effect of the _Ardeur_. Micah was truly in love with me. Knowing that without a doubt now hurt me worse than the pain of losing my bond to him.

Then Nathaniel cried out. He was begging me not to leave him. As our bond snapped, I saw him in my mind’s eye breaking down into tears. He too loved me in his heart with his free will. I did not bind him by my powers. Nathaniel wanted to be mine.

In Nicky’s case, I felt the man come into his sense of self once more. He had his free will back, but had no idea what he wanted. Oh, he understood what had happened but not the why. The first thought I caught from his mind was that I was rejecting him so he had nowhere to call home. I wanted Nicky to know he, along with the others, were threatened and this was the only option … that I would never reject him.

Michael nodded as my bride slipped away from me. I cried out Nicky’s name as he slipped away from me. Already I felt weak and alone.

A voice cut through my pain and loss. ‘ _Anita! Can you hear me? What’s going on? I can’t feel Jean-Claude or talk to him with my mind and you are fading away!_ ’

I thought about how I worded the agreement to give up my loves. Then I realized what I had done beyond saving them from Mommy Dark. None of my sweeties who led the various groups of wereanimals lost their places within the social groups. However, the ties to others were gone because of me. Our triumvirate dissolved in full. Richard no longer served Jean-Claude as animal to call.

‘ _Danger Richard! Pull over and call Jean-Claude now! It’s Marmee Noir!_ ’

I could see that he barely got to the side of the road before our bond broke. Losing him, my body collapsed. My last sensations from Richard were that he really did love me and feared losing me. Not only that, but I could feel that he and Jean-Claude seemed in love with one another as well. Goody, another fire I would have to deal with in time if we did this wrong.

Yiyu, my black jade, screamed in a combination of horror and pain. She feared either I was throwing her away or someone was stealing her from me. With my mind, I shouted out just before our bond snapped, “Go to the Circus!”

Michael nodded before I could even ask if Jade understood.

Crispin was hanging out with Envy and Dev when their turns came next. Thankfully, all three were at the Circus already. With each cut, I felt their love and fears along with more agony in my metaphysical body. I was beginning to shake from the pain.

My newest sweetie, Ethan came next, memories of our love and bond returning in full. How deep his love went near frightened me. Just because I treated him unlike any other woman had in his life, he gave me his heart and soul without regret or doubt. Only he knew without question I had a reason for this breaking from him metaphysically.

He managed to get through to me, ‘ _I’m going to the Circus._ ’

Finally, each of my distant brides who lived in other groups but I needed only call to draw them back to me were slowly stolen from me in order to protect them from her. Eventually, breathing became so hard that I came close to giving up. Yet, I survived to watch the night pull back from me and the angels.

 ‘ _Now I will claim them all, Necromancer._ ’

“No you will not,” I promised myself. Likely, she was returning to her bodies to move after those I lost. Knowing her that would mean beginning with those who I would not think of in her mind, my distant once brides.

The angels left as soon as she was no longer a threat. Yet, Michael remained at my side as if waiting for something. At first, I had no idea what to say. Somehow the words ‘thanks” or even a formal ‘thank you’ just didn’t seem to cut it. Besides, I had a worry on my mind.

“My distant brides ….”

“They will be arriving in St. Louis seeking council soon, missing the coming hunts of the Darkness by enough,” Michael answered. “That you weakened yourself simply to protect and save them from her evil has impressed the preternatural world far more than all of your past deeds combined.

“Farewell to you, Mother and Queen of the Day who is the ruler over the Guardians of the Mortal Realm.”

Snapping my eyes open, I could see it was later in the day than I expected. The sun was in the late afternoon nearest to twilight. “Harry!”

“He’s okay, Anita.” I could hear Micah was next to me and his voice sounded strained with worry.

In the background, Nathaniel sobbed uncontrollably. His grief nearly resonated within me – if I could only send my love to him again. “Nathaniel?”

“I can’t feel you!”

Then Harry woke in terror. “Me-ma! Me-ma! Me-ma!”

Nathaniel rushed to our side even as he wept at our loss. “It’s okay now, Harry. Your Me-ma is holding you tight.”

“We will all be okay, Nathaniel. I promise.”

He sniffled as he gathered Harry and me into his arms to cling to us. Micah looked at me hard. “What happened?”

Looking up into his beautiful kitty-cat eyes, I fell in love with him all over again. Yes, this was real love and I held no doubts this time. “Marmee Noir found a way to attack me again.  She wanted to claim either Harry or me. Let’s get everyone together so we only have to go over the story once.”

Micah nodded while Nathaniel squeezed me almost too tight. Looking up, I drowned in his lavender eyes. Real love flooded my weakened body and gave me a measure of strength back, but not enough to help me move on my own. Yet, I felt good again for his love. Compared to the numb emptiness left inside me without my loves. Yes, our love was stronger that her indifference.

Nathaniel kissed me and I couldn’t help the smile on my lips for the feeling. He needed me to make our lives better again. There was one way I could before we went to meet with the others.

“I know now.”

“Know what?” Nathaniel asked as his eyes filled with concern. I wanted him happy again so badly.

I snuggled in his arms. The battle and losses to my metaphysics were worse than I had expected. Now, I felt safe, warm, and loved. Here in his arms, I could easily fall asleep for a few days. I muttered as I began dosing off. “This … what we three have, what the others held for me too.”

Micah’s voice sounded calmer as he knelt next to us. “What about it, Anita?”

I knew what they both wanted me to say. Smiling at them, I gave in to my loves. “We have real love. Our feelings are not just the _Ardeur_ , as I feared. I know that all of you love me because all of you want to love me. As every tie to me broke, I felt how each of you feels for me without metaphysical shit getting in the way. The _Ardeur_ only gives the truth more power I guess.”

“No more doubts then?” Nathaniel chuckled through his tears.

“About us?” I asked.

When both of my sweeties nodded, I smirked. “No. Now the world at large … that is another story.”

Both of them laughed at my joke, which sounded better than the tears and pain of before.

Then I tried to sit up with Harry still on my chest, not a good decision on my part. Just as I left Nathaniel’s arms, the world went to black.

Rather than opening my eyes as the real world edged closer to my mind, I felt for what was happening around me with my senses to be safe. I could feel Harry’s weight still on my chest. My son was safe. Feeling vibrations echoing through my body told me that we were in some sort of vehicle and going at a good speed. A deep breath later told me I was still in Nathaniel’s arms. We were together and on the move.

“Please, tell me we are going to the Circus.”

“Anita, are you okay?” Nathaniel asked.

Opening my eyes, I looked up into his lavender eyes to fall in love again while gaining another measure of strength. He was worried, but I had not felt this calm in too many years. “I’m just tired.”

“You had all of us in near frantic,” Richard growled. “What was the idea of breaking the marks to everyone – and I mean _everyone_?”

Since his voice was coming from the front and near my head, I decided that Richard was driving.

“No choice. I’ll explain when we are all together. How long have I been out?”

Micah answered me, “We’re pulling into the parking lot of the Circus now. You have been out for hours. Larry showed up twenty-something minutes ago. We were physically shocked every time we started to pick up either you or Harry. That lasted until just as Larry arrived with his family. Lillian came within minutes of your and Harry’s second blackout. She said there was nothing to do but wait for whatever shield held us from you dropped.”

“Tammy almost wouldn’t let us leave with you. She wanted to call an ambulance and get you to the human hospital.” Nathaniel finished.

Rolling my eyes, I decided I would never understand that woman. She once also used a cold washcloth on me after I fainted due to a metaphysical attack that many on the force assumed was a pregnancy. I always wondered what the group fantasy did to cover that I had no baby then and felt much better after we sent Musette packing.

Giving a sigh, I tried to focus on the here and now. “What happened after then?”

Nathaniel smiled. “Richard came and told her off before telling us to come on.”

Imagining the scene made my eyes go wide. But, Nathaniel wasn’t done yet.

“Larry busted out laughing before he said that if you did anything like a human it would be the end of the world.”

Shaking my head in disbelief a thought bothered me. “She’ll call Dolph to report and mention Harry.”

“That’s doubtful,” Richard commented as he put his SUV in park. “Larry told her to back off because you are the world’s only defense. I think the guy might be one we can let in after all.”

Of all the people to defend me of late, Larry was not one to make my list. Still, the way my Ulfric worded his comment I called high praise. Losing his link to me, and I suspect from Jean-Claude as well, had altered Richard dramatically. I wondered if renewing and strengthening the bonds to eternal length was cruel.

Richard got out and opened the back door to take Harry and me from Nathaniel. Now, in normal circumstances, I´d argue, cuss, and fight about anyone carrying me. The look in Richard’s eyes told me that the man would not take a no about this from me. Given my weaken state I wasn’t going to fight, but I could see the man was ready if need be to fight me tooth and nail. Instead, he went for the confusion route.

“Jean-Claude has a theory, but he wants everyone involved together before he speculates.”

That kept me silent as Richard carried me to the back door. On the trip, Harry felt safer and shifted into a more comfortable position on my chest. Only then did I realize what we did.

“First thing this kid needs is a car seat.”

My guys chuckled as we rushed to the door. Claudia had the door opened before Micah could get out his key.

“Could someone please explain why we suddenly live in the phone equivalent of Grand Central Station during the rush hour peak?

Luckily, she waited until we were inside for my answer. Yes, I knew the ‘someone’ would be me.

“The High Queen Bitch tried to take over again and cutting all of my bonds was the only way to stop her.”

One of the reasons I liked Claudia was her quick mind. I didn’t have to say this needed to be kept within the territory for as long as possible or that hell was on the way. Her eyes widened as she said, “Is it time to call Rafael in then?”

For a moment, I thought about that. Yes, we needed to circle the wagons. But before that, we had something more important to do first.

“Call him, but tell him I said we have a ceremony to do first. He’ll know when to come.”

Leaving her mostly confused and not just a little worried, Richard carried me and our baby boy to the inner door Micah already had open. As we five silently descended the stairs, I focused on the child who was shaking our world to its foundations. Yet, I couldn’t make myself get mad at Harry for that. Rather, I felt relieved and grateful.

At the place where I last saw Phillip alive, I smiled. I hoped with all of my heart that in this life the guy would have as normal a life as he could have—without surviving a viscous vampire attack only to turn vampire junkie. My hope turned into a prayer that Phillip would be born to a good family that practiced tolerance.

Before I could think further, we went into Jean-Claude’s living room. Nathaniel hit the door of the curtains with practiced ease. After all, this was one of our homes.

Sitting gathered around the sofa were my sweeties, all of whom looked relieved and then worried when Richard carried me in.

“Master!” Jade sobbed as she ran over to us.

Knowing the basis of her fears, I held her a moment in one arm before kissing the top of her dark head. “We’re going to make this right and soon.”

Even if I lost all of the others, I would take Jade back because she wanted no one but me.

From where she had stood, my tigers all stood watching and waiting. They were scared and unsure. Yet, Jean-Claude moved the meeting along.

“There was a reason for all of this, _ma petite_.”

No question, only a statement of fact. Jean-Claude knew my love for everyone in this room, moreover how I would fight for them with my last breath.

The couch was cleared as Richard carried Harry and me with Jade escorting us. Once Richard set us down, I felt calmer but Harry’s muscles tightened. My first thought was that my little man was scared.

“It’s okay now, Harry. We’re home now, baby boy.”

Harry cried out in pain as his body began twitching as if he was in a seizure. Something was very wrong.

Before I could say a word, Nathaniel’s hands dove into the bag hanging on Micah’s shoulder. Within an eternal few moments, my submissive leopard sweetie gave us a triumphant smile as he pulled out an old fashion looking envelope.

Once Nathaniel opened this and took out the letter, Harry’s body settled and the baby stopped crying in pain. Whatever had happened was over.

We all looked at Nathaniel in shock and/or awe. He shrugged in response.

“Professor Dumbledore said that when we get home that opening the letter would create a ward to protect us and Harry. I figured this is one of our homes and Harry obviously needed protection.”

“There is no need to explain, Nathaniel,” Richard said. “You figured out the problem and found the solution.”

Even as Richard’s calm and respectful words made Nathaniel smile, I was worried. As far back as before the marks bound us, I never knew Richard to act this calm. Worse, I could not remember him giving my leopard lovers any measure of respect. Not even earlier today.

Richard answered my unanswered question. “For the first time in years, I feel calm on my own. I don’t feel torn apart in my head as if I am crazy. The feeling that my mind split into different versions of me is gone. To be honest, I have not felt this centered or sure of myself in years.”

“And so, today is quite the day for miracles,” Jean-Claude said with a hint of amusement in his voice.

Looking up at my Master of the City, Jean-Claude merely smiled unlike any other pleasure I had ever seen on him before. This unknown was annoying me. Even with only three marks, I had had a hint of what Jean-Claude was thinking! Okay, we would reinstate no less than the three marks between us.

Grabbing his arm, I was jolted with surprise. Under my fingers was warmth that radiated from both cloth and flesh alike! He did not feel human, yet he was warm.

Jean-Claude smirked in triumph and mischievousness like he once gave me long ago as Julianna. “No, I have not fed either, _ma petite_.”

“Then what’s going on?”

“I went into the sunlight for the first time in centuries, _ma petite_.”

Confusion mixed with fear and anger as I roared. “What in the world convinced you to do that?”

My anger did nothing to abate his pleasure. “We were visited by a man who called himself James Potter.”

The only Potters I knew were my sister and her family. Could her husband’s name be James? Damian answered my unspoken question, “He told us that you were visiting his wife. How could you unconscious?”

“She helped to protect me and Harry. His wife was my baby sister.”

Okay, so James was my sister’s husband and dead. Why and how did the guy convince a Master vampire to go into the sunlight?

Asher too felt so warm and closer to real in the flesh when his fingers touched my cheek. No, don’t tell me the guy went into the sunlight too! He smirked slightly. “When we lost our bonds to you, James told us it was your way of protecting us all. Then the man said that in the way you called for the breaking of our bonds had the effect of also freeing us undead from a curse set on us eons ago by the Mother of All Darkness.”

 “Meaning what?”

“Virtue is bold and goodness never fearful,” Requiem answered as he came into my sight. I guessed it was a quote, but where that came from and what he was trying to get at was beyond me. Besides, wasn’t he supposed to be in Philadelphia? I did not expect to see him waiting for me. I thought he loved his new life, even if he truly loved me after all.

“My Lady,” he said softly. “Greetings from the Master of the City of Philadelphia.”

Jean-Claude interrupted, “Requiem, you know we count you as a friend. There is no need for such formalities here or now.”

“Yes, however, I would be remiss to not give your Lady her due respect.”

Always the gentleman he was. “I am pleasantly surprised to see you, Requiem. Then Philadelphia knows too?”

He nodded, but gave me no suggestion of why he had come alone. Therefore, I pushed on. “What do you mean by virtue and goodness?”

Dev looked at Requiem and gave his interpretation. “It’s Shakespeare for sure. As to the meaning, I think he means what your actions returned to we think all of your vampires. I’m also going to ask a stupid question here: how did all of your vamps not only woke during the day but have remained alive in the day without you up to now?”

 “I can only guess it was my wording,” I answered while trying to figure out the implied.

With as tired as I felt, I was confused, even when Envy added, “Dev’s first comment, after mentioning the author, he meant from God.”

The various puzzle piece answers were not helping in my agitated state. My sweeties put themselves in a situation that could have ended their existence on the word of a stranger! “Could someone do me a big favor and put the pieces together?”

Richard’s eyes widened in surprise, meaning he had the picture at least a good way finished. Lucky him. God, I was so stuck on slow tonight!

“What Belle Morte told us the night we tried to save Travis!”

Despite the pain in my chest the memories brought out, I thought back. What had Belle Morte said? That the Mother of All Darkness fed on negative emotions and used those to get into one’s mind and heart? That I knew already and from experience. I knew there had to be more! What was it? All I was missing was some key piece that would put the puzzle together.

After a couple of beats, my mind caught the memory and my eyes snapped open as every point suddenly came together. Belle’s voice echoed in my mind.

‘ _We are not descended from the Darkness, remember that._ ’

Looking at Jean-Claude, I could see in his smile and tear filled eyes that my understanding was right!

“ _Oui, ma petite._ However you have severed our ties to you, doing such also has ended her ties to your undead. You have brought our once damned souls back to God.”

Nicky was the man I first met years ago once more and I heard it in his voice when he spoke up, “What did you do, Anita?”

“It was either give up my bonds to everyone or else Mommy Dark would have taken what she wanted. When I made my choice, I told Michael: ‘They I love I wish to be free from everything not of them, including me.’”

My words lit up Nathaniel’s face while Asher nodded. “Including Marmee Noir.”

Seeing that I was still lost, Ethan smiled. “Tell us what happened after you said that.”

“Michael cut each of my bonds, he said it would allow God’s power to remove the poison Marmee Noir filled each of you with as well as prevent her from pouring in anymore.”

Jean-Claude nodded in agreement. “ _Exactment, ma petite_.”

“Okay, can someone translate for me?” I asked and could hear the tired irritation in my voice.

Richard took a guess. “There was more to her poison than this latest attack.”

Nathaniel’s eyes widened. “Are you saying that she has cursed all vampires rather than God doing that?”

Asher’s eyebrow rose as he considered this. “But why?”

“Control,” Richard answered. “But how could she have attacked me?”

“Maybe in part the attack on Anita in Seattle,” Micah offered. That sounded possible in the least. My last encounter with Mommy Dark had changed us all in different ways.

Touching a still fidgeting Harry’s head, Jean-Claude had a theory as well. “You changed quickly after you came into the knowledge of Nikolaos, Richard. You have seemed divided for years now, even before you met _ma petite_.”

“How could that be?” Richard said calmer than I expected from either of us.

“She bound you to her service in some way I did not understand. This is why I believe you never became stronger on your own, not as much as I knew you could. Nikolaos never wanted you to become a threat to Marcus’ hold over the wolves and so bound you to hold your potential back. Marmee Noir discovered this binding and has used it to her advantage since,” Jean-Claude explained.

It made sense. Richard felt even stronger now than when the triumvirate united the three of us. Guess he didn’t need me anymore. “But if this started with Nikolaos, why didn’t Richard become himself and powerful again once I killed her?”

“That I have no answers for, _ma petite_. I can only state what I know is truth.”

“So, whatever Nikolaos used held, then Mommy Dark discovered it. Why would that be of interest to her?”

Dev had a look of dawning comprehension on his face. “Using this she drove the three of you apart as deep and often as she could.”

“Doing so, she would always have the option to take me over.” I felt the beginning of a headache building up.

The implication of all of this hit me hard. In short, my words acted to remove the bitch’s curse from my vamps and my Ulfric. Knowing now that sunlight did not hurt my sweeties, I wondered what else had changed.

“Have you guys tested anything else?”

Ethan nodded and smirked. “Holy objects no longer cause reactions outside of mind powers, and ….”

I grew annoyed with the hanging sentence. Crispin looked at the others before admitting to me, “Jean-Claude ate a blackberry.”

What control I held for Harry’s sake slipped. “Come again? Not knowing what could have happened? Jean-Claude! Things are different now and we have no idea where the new boundaries are!”

“James told us you would react this way,” Requiem said. “He claimed that you are his wife made over.”

Nathaniel smirked. “Isn’t that a little backward? After all, Lily was Anita’s baby sister.”

Bobbie Lee shook his head at us. “Could someone explain why things are going weird again? I mean, why and how did that James guy vanish for starters?”

Taking a deep breath, I sighed. It was time to reveal the truth. “All of you were talking to a ghost. That is why none of you saw him as a threat. God gave him grace to visit the living.”

My words caused the guys to explode, which scared Harry into sobs. Thankfully, my glare was enough to calm the situation. Harry was not convinced and clung to my shirt as he whimpered and I felt the tears soaking my shirt. Oh yeah, I was this kid’s mom now.

Softening his tone, Micah tried to keep the situation calm for the baby. “Anita is clearly sure and given all we have faced in the past years can anyone truly call such impossible?”

“I am going to explain this to my sweeties in depth when we can get alone. For now, as Nathaniel explained, Lily was my baby sister who our father ignored. Last Halloween, a monster called Voldemort murdered Lily and James who were protecting Harry. The way Lily died protects Harry, but also leaves him vulnerable to attack if he doesn’t live with his maternal blood family. Lily’s other sister and her family abused Harry. After my dad shut the door on him, Harry is now ours. Is that good enough?”

Our guards and all of my lovers nodded. A good thing since some of the story I didn’t want to repeat any more than I had to. By the end of the night, I was already expecting the phones to ring non-stop. The idea of my being a mom? I wondered how the preternatural grapevine was going to handle this twist in my life. Blow up was my first guess.

Despite rumors and unfounded expectations, my list of boyfriends was very short. Given what I wanted to do, I decided that now was the time to give all of them full free will to decide their futures for themselves.

“The only ones I want to stay with me for the rest are those who want to be with me.”

I could see in their confused looks that my words had not explained the situation clear enough. Thankfully, Nathaniel caught on fast. “You mean, if you could marry more than one person legally, those who would want to be married to you forever?”

When I nodded in agreement, who did what next surprised me. Richard gathered Harry and me in his arms and only a small group followed the three of us. Calmer in the strange place, my little boy cuddled tighter so Harry had his little ear right over my heart.

By the time we made the short trip down from the living areas and got to Jean-Claude’s bedroom, Cardinal had caught up to us. Grabbing Damian’s arm, I saw the triumphant look of a vicious woman taking from another aimed at me. Then she smiled brightly at my former vampire servant.

“Is it true?”

None of us needed to ask what the vampire had meant by the word ‘it’. My bonds to Damian had been a sore spot she loved to pester at in their relationship. Never had Cardinal shown me respect or even a congenial expression without force. In her eyes, I had wrongly owned her guy. The red-head appeared near giddy in her expectations.

Our bonds broken left the two of them free to be together without my interference. A demand she placed on Damian from their relationship’s beginnings. Somehow, I doubt they would be paired off monogamous. Damian had followed my small group this far.

He gave her a great vamp face as my once vampire servant coldly told Cardinal, “Right now, yes.”

He had made his choice. But before he could pull away from the other vamp, Cardinal jumped onto his chest as if expecting him to hold her. This did not happen and she didn’t notice. So giddy with joy, Cardinal missed every clue and signal she was wrong one could possibly grant. She chuckled and shot me a superior look before the vampire lifted her head high. Blind much?

“Finally, we are free!”

At the other end of the corridor, I noticed a predatory Meng Die watching the situation with eager fascination. No need to ask why. She had her eyes on all of my sweeties of power. Zero doubt the other vampire wanted to see if there was any chance to steal them from me.

Damian’s arms moved, not to embrace or hold. Rather he pushed Cardinal off his chest and to the floor. His growl went even colder than his previous voice, scaring Harry a bit. “You have always been free.”

My once vampire servant caught the sound of Harry whimpering and snapped out of his anger. Damian came over and gently rubbed the little boy’s head. “Shh, here you are safe. Don’t worry, little one.”

The blow off only served to amuse Meng Die while Cardinal grew annoyed. “What does that mean? Leave her little bastard alone!”

One item Cardinal should have left alone was my son. Damian slapped her across the face in rage only to calm himself by force when Harry cried in fear. After a few beats of silence, Damian glared at his now (I guessed) ex-girlfriend. “Never disrespect this boy. He is far above you in my eyes.”

“So what? He has nothing but that slut! Was I only a distraction? You can’t tell me we had nothing!”

Damian crossed his arms over his chest and glared. “I only dated you to make Anita happy. That is not free. This group chooses to be with Anita, for good and all–a group that includes me, by my free will.”

“Where do you get off? She is a common whore! Can’t even pick one guy! At least I can give you that! You can’t say we had nothing! I know you have feelings for me! This is that cunt stealing you back!”

“You have no idea about feelings,” Damian snapped. “Always demanding your preferences and feelings take priority, questioning me over my work, refusing to do your job because of jealousy. How could I feel anything for a self-centered, insecure, air-headed twit who will do nothing but complain about my true love while whining how you could be a better core to this territory’s power base? I know of the reports of your inquires towards Anita’s routines. Be grateful that I don’t just remove you as a threat personally.”

Jumping off the floor, Cardinal went for Damian’s back. She couldn’t match my Viking lover, the woman had not existed as undead long enough to hope for such level of power. Twisting around, Damian caught Cardinal in midair only to throw her down the corridor far as he could manage.

Seeing how my sweeties stepped closer to me, Meng Die held up her hands in surrender. Well, one less female threat I had to deal with. Unfortunately, another was eager to take her place.

Cardinal glared at me and I could almost hear her mind plotting against me. Her voice was pure venom and ice. “I’ll make you pay, bitch!”

As she stormed off and even pushed Meng Die aside, I decided to never underestimate Cardinal. Damian again rubbed Harry’s head to try calming my son. Once Harry settled down, Richard continued carrying the two of us into Jean-Claude’s bedroom followed by the rest of my loves.

Jean-Claude had been a part of me for so long, he understood my expression easily. “I will send her somewhere as soon as I can. For now, I believe we have a more in depth discussion to hold.”


End file.
